Stranger on Mobius
by i.was.kitten
Summary: A girl finds herself on Mobius and meets Sonic and friends. I don't own Sonic, just the OC.
1. Fast Wake-Up Call

**Chapter 1: Fast Wake-Up Call**

On what seemed like an ordinary on the world of Mobius, was a blue hedgehog named Sonic, taking his usual morning run. As he ran through the green hills, he closed his eyes and smiled when he felt the wind rushing through his quills. For him, nothing was better than a good run.

Suddenly, when he opened his eyes, something caught his attention and he skidded to a stop. "Huh?"

What he saw was a red-haired girl lying on the grass, all the way in the middle of nowhere. "Where'd she come from?" Sonic asked, scratching his head.

He walked up to her and he figured she was asleep. He wondered if she was merely taking a nap, but it was so early in the morning, so why would she be taking a nap? Sonic assumed that she must've camped out here last night and fell asleep on the spot she was resting on, but where was her sleeping bag or tent? Because all she had with her was a long-strapped black-and-white purse.

Then she moaned and her eyes fluttered from the sunlight.

"Are you okay?" Sonic asked.

The girl turned her head to him and her eyes widened she saw a large animal on two legs talking to her. Instead of screaming or running away, she kept her eyes fixed on him and replied, "I don't know. I think I'm still dreamin'. Because I see a talking blue hedgehog."

Sonic tilted his head in confusion. "How does that make you think you're dreaming?"

She blinked and got up and looked around the unfamiliar grassy area. "Well, hedgehogs don't talk...and they don't have blue fur."

"Well, then, I'm the first talking blue hedgehog you've ever seen." Sonic said with a simple shrug.

"I...suppose so," she said, looking around again. "Are we both absolutely sure this ain't a dream?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure, but if you want to be sure." Sonic then picked her up in his arms and before the girl can saw a word, she ended up closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around his neck when he ran. She never felt such speed in all her life and she clung on to him as if her life depended on it.

"Does this feel real enough?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, yes, it feels real! Please stop!" she begged loudly.

Sonic halted and saw her with her eyes still closed and her body shaking. "Sorry, but I wanted to give you proof," he apologized as he put her down gently.

She let go of him, took deep breaths, and muttered, "Oh, good Heavens."

Sonic knelt down asking, "You okay?"

Feeling her heart beating fast, she replied, "A little adrenalized, but yes, I'm okay," making Sonic grin. "And I definitely know this is not a dream. ...So if..." She looked around and knew for sure she wasn't where she was supposed to be, but to be certain, she asked Sonic, "Say, is this Earth?"

"No, this..." But Sonic didn't finish his question when he heard the word Earth. "Wait a minute, you're from Earth?"

"Yes."

"I've been to Earth before."

"You have?" she asked in disbelief.

"You bet. Some friends and I got sent over there a while back until we came back to our home world."

"Which is...?"

"Mobius."

"Mobius?" she echoed. "And there are more hedgehogs like you around here?"

"Yep, hedgehogs, rabbits, foxes, cats, dogs, you name it."

"In other words, I'm on a planet of giant talking animals?"

"Pretty much," he shrugged, "but there are a few humans who live here, but not many. So how did you get here?"

She thought back and wondered what was the last thing she did before she woke up. "...I don't know. I don't remember what happened to me before I came here. It's all a blank.

"You really don't remember?"

She shook her head.

Sonic felt bad for her, a girl who woke up to a strange planet and doesn't remember anything before that.

"Can you help me? I know we just met, but I don't know whom to turn to."

Sonic smiled and said, "Sure, I'll help. You didn't think I'd leave a lost girl alone, did ya?"

"Thank you. My name's Aurora," she said, shaking his hand.

"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Nice to meet you, Sonic. Do you know anyone here who might understand what happened to me?"

"Well, I'm not sure who, but we could go see a best friend of mine. His name's Tails. When it comes to science and technology, he's a genius. I can't say he'd know, but it wouldn't hurt to ask him."

"Is he a hedgehog like you?" Aurora asked curiously.

"Nope, he's a fox."

"I see..." she replied in wonder. _Well, I won't see until I meet him. _

"Come on," Sonic pronounced, lifting her again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're gonna run us there?" she asked worriedly.

"Well, yeah. Tails's is in Knothole and that's a pretty long distance from here, so I don't think you'd like to walk. Hang on." Once again, at full speed, Aurora held Sonic tight and closed her eyes in fear. But that fear went away and was replaced with curiosity.

"How is it that you're so fast?"

"Call it a gift," Sonic answered simply.

"Do other Mobians have powers like this?"

"Yep, some have super speed, some have super strength, and some can fly."

"And which one of those things does Tails do?"

"He flies."

"He flies?" Aurora repeated in awe. "Does he have wings?"

This made Sonic laugh. "No, you see, he has two tails, which is what gave him his nickname. He uses his tails as propellors to help him fly."

"That's pretty unique. Is his flying as fast as your running?"

"Yeah, he's fast enough to catch up to me in the air." No more than a second did he stop. "Here we are."

Oh, thank goodness.

Aurora thought.

Sonic put her down and looked at her panting from the second fast run.

He scratched his cheek saying, "I guess my speed's too much for ya."

"You could say that," she answered, straightening her hair.

"Sorry about that."

"Well, it beats walking all the way here, so it's all right." After wiping the dust off her, she looked at what looked like some sort of garage. "This it?"

"Yep, this is Tails's workshop." Sonic knocked on the door, greeted by a young male voice that said, "Coming!" and to Aurora's slight surprise yet fascinated look, the door was opened by a yellowish orange fox who indeed had two tails.

"Hi, Sonic," Tails said, happy to see his best friend.

"Hey, Tails," Sonic replied with a wave.

Aurora tilted her head in some confusion and thought, _Huh, I thought he'd be more red than golden orange. Then again, I thought hedgehogs wouldn't be blue. _

Noticing Aurora behind Sonic, Tails asked, "Who's your friend?"

"I just met her today. This is Aurora. Aurora, this is my best pal, Tails."

Tails shakes her hand and adds, "My real name is Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails."

"Nice to meet you, Tails."

"How'd you meet her, Sonic?" Tails asked curiously and Sonic explained this morning's story to him.


	2. Meeting Tails & Amy Rose

**Chapter 2: Meeting Tails and Amy Rose**

"You're from Earth?" Tails asked, giving Aurora the same expression Sonic gave her when he heard about Earth.

"That's right." She nodded.

"And you really don't remember what happened to you or how you got here?" Tails added.

She shook her head. "'Fraid not."

"We were hopin' maybe you might know." Sonic explained.

"Sorry, Sonic," Tails apologized, "If I did, I think I would've told you."

"Right, I thought as much," Sonic replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, didn't either of you see anything unusual this morning or last night that might be related to this?" Aurora asked.

Sonic shook his head. "Nope."

"Can't say that we have." Tails said.

"Great," Aurora sighed in disappoinment.

"Well, hey, that doesn't mean no one around does," Sonic assured, "We'll ask everyone in Knothole."

"Sounds like a good idea," Aurora agreed. "Wait a minute." She just noticed that she had her purse on her shoulder and she had a thought. As she dug through her purse, Tails asked, "Whatcha doing?"

"I had no idea my purse was with her until now because of all the excitement," she explained still rummaging in her bag, "If I have my purse that means... Aha." She pulled our her little black cell phone and declared that she could call her family, starting with her mother. She dialed the number, but the phone made a deep tone. "It's not workin'." She tried her grandmother's, then her aunt and other relatives, even her friends, but the phone made the same noise each other. "None of the calls are comin' through."

"Well, you are in another world," Tails explained. "You see, time and space is differen from here and Earth. So...trying to contact with anyone there from here is..." He stopped when he saw how sad and sick she looked. Aurora was very upset because not only is she in another world she doesn't know, her friends and family must not know. She fell on her knees and she leaned on the floor with her palms.

Sonic was also upset to see her so down, but he couldn't blame her for feeling that way. He walked up to her, put a hand on her shoulder that made her look at him and he said in a reassuring tone, "Take it easy. We'll help you."

She looked down at the floor again and said, "But they have to know where I am."

"Maybe they don't know you're gone at all," Tails thought.

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking at him.

"Like I said before, space _and _time are different between our worlds. It may take a while for you to get home, but when you do come back, it'll feel like you were only gone for a few seconds."

"You really think so?"

"Well, it's theory, but..." And as soon as Tails said that, Aurora looked down in slight despair again, which made him silently guilty.

"It'll be okay," Sonic spoke seriously yet gently. "I promise."

Aurora looked at him, squeezed her phone, and believed him. "Okay...even though I just met you, I'm willin' to trust you." He and Tails were the only ones who could help her and even though she didn't know much about either of them, she trusted them. She had no choice.

Sonic gave her a thumbs-up and a wink and said, "That's all I ask." It made her grin for a moment, feeling a bit better. "Come on, let's ask around."

* * *

Sonic and Aurora walked around all over Knothole where she saw all sorts of Mobians. Foxes, cats, dogs, raccoons, rabbits, etc. She was very amazed that there was another world of different people. She was also hoping that someone around here knew about her appearance, or at least noticed anything very unusual. They asked everyone and they all regretfully said no. Aurora felt down and a little tired. When Sonic saw this, he offered, "You wanna sit for a while?"

She nodded and sat on a bench next to Sonic. She leaned backwards with her hands on the seat and looked the sky with a sad expression.

Sonic thought, _Aw, man, I hate to see her so sad. _Just then, Aurora's stomach growled. Her eyes widened and she held her abdomen.

"That's right, you didn't eat anything when you woke up," Sonic pointed out.

Aurora blushed with embarrassment, but Sonic took little notice when he saw an ice cream cart. He patted her arm and said, "Hang on a sec," and walked to the cart.

She watched him go and asked herself, _Why's he doing this? Why am I trusting him so easily? I guess it's 'cause I can tell how nice he is. And besides, who else can I trust?_

Another second later, Sonic came back with an ice cream cone in each hand and gave her one. "Here, hope you like it."

Aurora nodded in gratitude and took a lick of the frozen dessert. Her tongue was happy and her previous frown disappeared and turned into a smile. "This is really good," she commented.

"Glad to hear it. I'm also glad to see it," Sonic replied, making her head tilt. "That you're smiling. In my opinion, food tastes better when you smile. Actually, everything is better when you smile. Don't you think?"

Aurora thought about it and she smiled again. "Yes, I do. Thanks, Sonic."

Sonic patted her shoulder saying, "Hey, no problem."

Aurora felt really grateful to him. That a stranger like him would help someone like her.

* * *

After they had finished their ice cream brunch, Sonic and Aurora walked around Knothole again through a park after asking everyone in town who didn't notice anything weird going on at all. When the it was almost time for sunset, Sonic announced, "Well, I guess we'd better head back to Tails's workshop."

"I guess you're right," Aurora agreed, a little disappointed.

Just then, they both heard an angry female cry. "Sonic!"

"Oh, no," Sonic whispered fearfully. We both turned around and saw a pink hedgehog with a red dress and shoes and she held...a very large hammer.

Whoa, she's strong!

Aurora thought in amazement though in worry. She swung her hammer around in rage and yelled, "How dare you do this to me?! You go and find a girlfriend I don't know about and go on a date with her?!

Girlfriend? Date? Hang on, we're not even the same species.

Aurora said in her head.

"Amy, wait..." Sonic reasoned, but she charged forward, making Sonic run for it, "Yikes!" Aurora didn't know what to do, but she knew this Amy was very mistaken so she stepped in front of her wit her arms spread out. "Wait a minute, Miss...Amy, was it? You misunderstand. Sonic and I are not a couple and we're not on a date."

Amy, whose eyes were on fire, blinked in confusion. "Huh? You're not?"

"No," Aurora answered, "First of all, we just met this morning and he was helping me with something very important. Second, he's a hedgehog and I'm a human. So that's kinda an unlikely possibility, don't you think?"

Amy thought about it for a moment, then lowered her hammer. "Yeah, it really is."

Aurora nodded. "So, please, calm down and put the hammer away."

Amy gave a composed as she did what I asked. "This is so embarrassing. I should've known better than to assume something like that. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay. No harm done." Aurora reassured, sticking her hand out. "My name's Aurora, by the way."

"Amy Rose," she said, shaking her hand.

Sonic, who had stopped a little way off when he heard Aurora reasoning with Amy, looked at them in awe. _Whoa, no one's ever calmed Amy down like that before._

"Oh, Sonic, why didn't you tell me you met a new friend this morning?" Amy scolded.

"S-sorry, Amy," Sonic stammered, "I was busy trying to help her."

"With what?"


	3. Meeting Cream and Cheese Roomates

**Chapter 3: Meeting Cream and Cheese; Roommates.**

After Aurora explained to Amy about her arrival from Earth, like Sonic and Tails, she gave a surprised expression. "You're from Earth? Really?"

Aurora nodded.

"And you don't remember how you got here? And you can't call anyone from home?"

Aurora shook her head in regret. "Because of the time and space continuem between our worlds. That's why Sonic and I asked everyone in town if they had seen anything out of the ordinary last night or this morning. And unfortunately, no one has a clue."

"I don't suppose you've noticed anything weird, huh, Amy?" Sonic queried.

"Sorry, I haven't," Amy apologized, "but I wish I did."

Aurora looked down at the ground with disappointment again. _What do I do now? _

"So now that you haven't found out anything, what are you gonna do next?" Amy asked.

"We were gonna go back to Tails's workshop and figure out what to do from there." Sonic answered.

"Why don't I come with?" Amy suggested, "And invite Cream and Cheese?"

"Who?" Aurora asked.

"Cream's a young friend of mine," she explained, "with a pet Chao named Cheese."

Aurora tilted her head at the mention of her pet. "What's a Chao?"

"Right, you don't see Chao on Earth. You'll know when you see him."

"Okay, but why bring them?" Aurora asked. "Not that I wouldn't like to meet them."

"Well, they've been to Earth as well as Sonic, Tails, and I have and I think they might like to meet you."

"All right, nothing against that." Aurora replied.

"Great, I'll go get them." With a wave to Sonic, she ran off. "See you in a while, Sonic."

"Wow, we may not have found anyone to help us with my mysterious arrival, but at least I get to meet more of your friends," Aurora remarked.

"Yep, there's that," Sonic nodded, "And I'm sorry about Amy."

"It's okay. I'm just glad I stopped her before she could hammer your head in."

"Yeah, I owe ya on that one. When Amy starts to hammer, there's no stoppin' her."

"And I'm guessin' she's got a crush on you, too," she added with a teasing wink, "You hedge-_dog._"

"Hey..." Sonic warned, making her smile. "We're actually friends, but Amy really wants us to be more."

"Well, why don't you tell her you'd rather be friends with her?"

"You don't know Amy Rose well yet. When her mind is set on something, there's no talking her out of it."

"I see...it's tough bein' good with the ladies, huh?" Aurora asked, playfully, "Is she the only one after you?"

"Thankfully, yes. I don't think I can do with more girls chasing me all the time."

"At least you're a fast runner."

"For sure," he agreed, "Anyway, let's go meet up with Tails."

As we started walking, Aurora felt curious about Amy and this Cream and Cheese, so she asked, "Say, is Amy a fast runner like you?"

"Well, sorta, but nowhere near as fast as me."

"I see, but she must be pretty strong to swing a big hammer like that."

"You can say that again. She's got a mean arm," Sonic remarked, wincing from the times he had been hit by her large mallet.

Good thing I did stop her in time.

Aurora thought, noticing his wincing. "Now how about Cream and Cheese?" Aurora added. "What are they, what are they like, and what kind of powers do they have?"

"Well, Cream's a rabbit. She's six-years-old and you already know Cheese is a Chao. He's a little guy with wings and a red bow. And they're both very sweet and friendly. You'll like them in an instant. And their powers? Well, Cream can use her big ears to fly, and she and Cheese make a good battling duo. They may be young, but don't underestimate them because of that. They're actually very strong when they work together."

"Wow..." Aurora said in amazement, "They're both really unique. So far, the rest of you are unique, too."

That made Sonic grin bashfully with his hand behind his head. "You seem unique yourself."

"How's that?" she asked.

"Well, you said you've never seen a talking blue hedgehog before you came here, and you didn't scream or ran away when you saw me. You stared at me, but you didn't judge me too much."

"Well, I prefer to get to know a person before I judge them. That's how I roll."

Sonic grinned. "Then that proves you are unique."

She blushed and looked away. "Thanks for the compliment." Although, she really didn't think of herself all that important, but it was nice to hear someone say it to her.

"So, you wanna run back?" he asked, walking backwards with his hands behind his head.

"Oh, well, if..." she started, rubbing her arm worriedly.

"No, I mean, would you like if we ran back on our own feet?" he corrected.

"Oh, that's what you meant. Well, I don't know, Sonic. I've always been a bad runner."

"Then why don't we do something about that?" he suggested.

"Pardon?"

"You and I can run at a little race at your own speed. Then maybe you might get better at running."

Aurora wasn't sure of the idea, but...frankly, she always wished she could move faster than usual. "Okay, I'm gamed," she agreed.

"Now you're talkin'. 'Sides, if we ran at my pace, we'd have to wait for Amy and the others, but by the time we get there, they'll be waiting for us. Now..." he instructed, bending down with his hands on the ground with one knee bent and a straight leg behind him, "...do like this."

She nodded, copying his pose.

"Then we go. Ready?"

She nodded.

"Go!" They both darted. Sonic made sure to slow down to her normal pace. Aurora was a little fast, then started to slow. Her legs begged for her to stop because she wasn't used to it...but she wanted Sonic to teach her how to do this, so she ignored the discomfort and kept moving. In fact, with a little of determination, she picked up the pace and went a little way ahead of him.

Sonic looked impressed and sped up to catch up to her, then slowed to match her pace again. "You havin' fun with it so far?" he asked.

A little too worn out to breath an answer, she nodded.

"You don't seem that slow. Not a hedgehog's speed, but with some more practice, you'll be a lot faster," he proclaimed.

That advice made her light up with hope and made her run faster. Then something hit her and she stopped. "Hey, Sonic," she panted.

"What's the matter, Aurora?" he asked, wondering why she stopped all of a sudden.

"...Isn't Tails's workshop in the other direction?" she asked, pointing the opposite way they ran from.

"...Oh, yeah," he chuckled awkwardly. "I guess I forgot we were goin' the wrong way."

"Well, then, let's go the right way," she suggested, making the same pose she saw Sonic make earlier. "And at least this way, we'll have a longer distance for us to run. Ready?"

He nodded, copying her pose and said, "Ready," and both ran into the right direction to the workshop.

* * *

Back at Tails's workshop, the young fox was waiting for Sonic and Aurora to get back since it was getting late. "Where are they?" he asked himself. Then he heard a knock and thought at first it was them. He opened the door and to his surprise, it was Amy, Cream, a young rabbit in a little red dress, and Cheese, a blue-and-yellow flying creature with a red bow tie on his neck.

"Guys? What are you doing here?" Tails asked.

"Didn't Sonic tell you we were coming?" Amy replied.

He shook his head. "No, he's not even here."

"That's weird, Sonic's always waiting for us," Amy observed.

"But what brought you three here?" Tails asked curiously.

"I met Sonic at the park with Aurora a little while ago," she started to explain.

"Really?" Tails said.

"Uh-huh," she nodded, "and when she told me she was from Earth, I'd asked if she'd like me to bring Cream and Cheese here so she can meet them."

"When Amy told us she was from Earth, we couldn't wait to meet her," Cream added, making her pet Chao chirp in agreement.

"I see, but I wonder where they're even at...?"

"Miss us?" said Sonic at the doorway with Aurora panting hard behind him.

"There you are," Tails pronounced. "We were wondering what happened to ya."

"Oh, we were just going for a run. I was teaching Aurora how to go a little faster," he explained, pointing at her with his thumb.

She nodded, still out of breath.

"Sounds like you took a long run," Tails observed, looking how worn out Aurora looked.

"Well, yeah, you see," she started, getting her breath back, "when we first ran...we realized we were goin' the wrong way of your workshop." Everyone laughed at that, making me smile bashfully.

"But it was my fault," Sonic said, "I was the one leading her in the wrong direction and no more than two minutes did she remind me where we weren't goin'."

"Well, we're glad you're here," Amy said, "Aurora, I'd like you to meet Cream and Cheese."

Aurora had to admit, they did look like sweet little things. "Hello," she greeted nicely, kneeling down to them.

"Hi, Miss Aurora," Cream greeted with the sweetest little voice Aurora ever heard. "It's very nice to meet you."

"It's very nice to meet you, too," she agreed with a smile. Cheese flies up to her making a friendly chirp. "Well, aren't you a cute little thing?" she asked. This made Cheese smile and nuzzle her face.

"He likes you, Miss Aurora," Cream stated.

"That's weird," Amy spoke, tilting her head, "Cheese doesn't usually warm up to a new person that fast."

Aurora petted Cheese's head, making him purr. "Maybe because no one's called him cute the first time," she suggested.

"Miss Aurora..." Cream started.

"Excuse me, Cream, but there's no need to call me miss," she assured, "Aurora will do just fine."

"Oh, yes, ma'am," she understood.

She smiled at her polite behavior.

"Is it really true you're from Earth?" she asked.

She nodded and explained to them in Tails's living room how she woke up, met Sonic, then Tails, asked everyone around, and met a jealous Amy, although she kept the word "jealous" silent.

"You couldn't find anyone?" Tails asked from his sofa chair.

"No, no one knows anything," she answered sadly with Cream sitting on her lap and Cheese in Cream's arms.

"We're sorry, Aurora," Amy said from a chair next to Sonic.

All Aurora did was shrug...

"Well, I'm sure there's a way to send you home," Sonic reassured, but Aurora still looked upset.

"Aurora, if you have nowhere to stay, where will you spend the night?" Cream spoke up.

"Oh, well..." Actually, Aurora never thought of where she was going to stay in the mean time.

"I know, why not stay with me?" she suggested.

"You'd take me in?" Aurora asked.

"Why not? I'm not living with anyone and there is another bedroom in my apartment you can borrow."

"I appreciate your generous offer, Amy, but I wouldn't want to intrude."

"It's no problem. I don't mind," she insisted, "Plus, it's the least I can do since I accused you for dating Sonic.

_Excuse me,_ Sonic thought, _but if memory serves correct, you accused _me _for dating her. I kinda like an apology, too, but I know better. _Heaven help him if he demanded an apology from Amy. _But I hope Aurora accepts. Amy's place sounds like a good place to stay for a while. _

Aurora thought for a moment and she figured that staying with Amy wouldn't be a bad idea as long as she respected her rules. "Well, if you insist, but I'll try to help you in any way I can while I'm stayin' if that's okay."

Amy smiled. "Sure, but don't trouble yourself too much over it."

"Thanks, Amy."

* * *

So, that evening, Sonic escorted Amy and Aurora to Amy's apartment that was on the second floor. While Aurora was settling in the guest room, Sonic spoke with Amy at the doorway.

"You think you can help her be comfortable?" Sonic asked.

"Sure, never had anyone to stay over other than Cream or Cheese, but I think Aurora'll be okay," she assured him.

"Well, as long as you're sure..." Sonic replied, but he looked down at the floor.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that I feel kinda bad for her bein' in another place she doesn't know where she can't call her family," he confessed.

"Well, it happened to us and we managed to come back here, didn't we?" she reminded him.

"True, but it took a long time for us to get back," he added.

"It'll work out somehow. I know you of all people will find a way. You always keep your promises and you did promise her you'd help her get home, right?"

Sonic remembered what he promised Aurora this morning and knew he did always keep a promise, no matter how difficult. He nodded, "Yep, that I did."

"So it'll work out somehow. And I'm really sorry for almost attacking you without being fair. I shouldn't have thought you'd date a human girl, not that I don't think she's nice or anything."

Sonic grinned at her apology and said, "No sweat. Just help her feel more at home."  
"Sure thing." Then Sonic ran off like a gust of wind. She sighed dreamily, "Here one second, gone the next, but that's what makes him Sonic."

* * *

After Aurora took a shower, she tried on one of Amy's robes that she had offered her, and when she came out to the living room, she felt very awkward because the robe reached down a few inches below the top of her hind legs.

"Uh..." she said, looking at the miniature robe.

"I'm really sorry that it's too short for you, but it's all I've got," Amy apologized, sitting on a sofa at a coffee table with hot chocolate for each of the girls.

"It's okay. I mean, it's only my legs that are showin'," she assured, sitting down next to Amy.

Amy took a blanket and handed it to her. "Here, use this."

"Thank you," Aurora said, covering her bare legs.

"No problem."

"So you have this place to yourself?" she asked, looking at Amy's home.

"That's right, but Cream and Cheese often visit. I wish Sonic would."

"You seem to adore him, huh?" Aurora observed nicely.

"What's not to adore? He's nice, brave, cool, mysterious, and heroic."

She grinned when Amy told her of Sonic's qualities. She was a romantic herself so it made her like Amy even more. "Do people ever call him the Blue Wonder?" she asked.

"No, but that would suit him, wouldn't it?"

She nodded.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Is there a guy you like where you're from?"

She shook her head. "Afraid I'm single."

"But you're so pretty," she claimed, making Aurora blush.

"Me?" she stammered, "Well, I-I'm okay. I guess I could look worse."

"Oh, come on, you have nice eyes. Your figure seems healthy. And your hair color is nice, too."

Aurora felt awkward for a moment and didn't know what to say when Amy asked, "What does it look like when it's down?

"Well, if you want to know," she said, taking the hair clip off of her almost dry hair.

When Amy saw the red hair fall down to the middle of her back, she stared in awe. "Wow! It looks like that?"

"Y-yes..." she hesitated.

"It's so beautiful."

"Thank you," she grinned, "I get that a lot."

"No kidding," Amy agreed, fingering her hair, "It's so nice, soft, radiant, and long." It made Aurora smile. It's been a while since anyone besides her mother and grandmother remarked her hair. "And you say you could look worse?"

"Well, I mean, I could look better. I mean, I do have a little complexion," she pointed out, touching her freckled-face.

"It's really not noticeable."

"Maybe not, but... Well, actually, the guys in school knew I wanted my space and that I wasn't interested in having a boyfriend yet, so they respected me enough to leave me alone."

"I see, but I guess you broke their hearts."

She shrugged. "I wouldn't know, but it never mattered. Working hard in my classes was more important."

"Where do you go to school?"

"Graduated."

"Really?"

She nodded.

"You must be really smart to graduate so early."

"Well, I am smart and I was great in my classes, but I didn't graduate early. I graduated when I was eighteen. Well, graduation day was actually two days away from my 19th birthday, but I'm 20 now."

"Wow, but you look so young."

"Well, when you don't wear make-up and are short compared to taller humans," she explained.

"At least you're tall here."

"True, but that's because most of the Mobians are a lot shorter than humans," she put in.

"Yeah, that's a good point," she admitted, making us giggle. "Hey, since the only clothes you have are the ones you've worn today, why don't we go shopping tomorrow?"

"Oh, Amy, that's very nice, but I wouldn't want you to..."

"Don't worry about it," she assured, "I don't mind. Besides, you may like to find a few pajamas that are more your size, anyway."

Looking at this teeny-tiny robe, she said, "Good point," making us giggle again.


	4. Freedom

**Chapter 4: Freedom**

The next day, Amy took Aurora to the mall, then they came back to Amy's apartment and Aurora helped Amy cook dinner.

"Hope you like spaghetti casserole," said Amy who pulled a pan from the oven.

"Well, never tried it before, but it sounds good," Aurora replied, mixing the salad. "And hopefully, you'll like the cookies I've baked."

"I'm sure they're good." Amy pulled out the cookie pan then handed it to Aurora. "Here you go."

"Thank you. All I have to do is dip them in the melted chocolate. I'm just glad we have enough to take to Sonic and the others tomorrow."

"Tell me, what are they called again?"

"They're called bacci," Aurora explained, dipping the white cookie balls in the chocolate bowl with a spoon. "It's Italian for kisses. This kind of bacci has vanilla in it, which is my own ingredient, with chocolate frosted coats."

"That sounds really good," Amy remarked.

"Thanks. Baking desserts is a thing of mine. I haven't done it in a while, but I'm glad I can do it again."

After the food was done, they sat down, ate the salad and casserole, which Aurora thought tasted very good, then tried out the cookies.

"Mmm, they're so yummy!" Amy cried in delight.

"Thank you."

"Say, would it be okay if I could have your recipe for your cookies?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure, why not?" Aurora agreed with shrug, "If you give me your recipe for spaghetti casserole."

"Deal," she chimed, shaking my hand.

Meanwhile, that night at Tails's workshop, he and Sonic were talking about how Aurora came to their world. Tails said he was trying to find out the weird phenomenons going around yesterday or shortly before that. Unfortunately, the genius fox had no luck.

"Maybe it has something to do with Chaos Energy or something," Sonic thought, "That's what happened to us."

"But wouldn't Knuckles have known that himself?" Tails put in. "Otherwise, he would've come to us right when Aurora came."

"Good point."

"Well, I'll keep looking into it."

"I'll leave you on that, Tails. In the mean time, we're gonna need to keep Aurora from being too homesick."

* * *

The next morning, at Amy's apartment, Aurora heard someone knocking on the door.

"I'll get it," she called.

"Hang on, wait," Amy called back. Aurora went into Amy's room and saw her fluffing hair and spraying that perfume Aurora had suggested for her yesterday at the mall.

Aurora had a gut feeling why she was getting herself fixed up so nicely. "You think it might be Sonic?" she asked with a grin, leaning on the door hinge.

"Yep, and I'd like to be the first thing he sees and smells," she answerd, spraying one last bit of perfume.

"Then, please," Aurora beckoned, standing out of Amy's door way to let her pass.

"Thanks," Amy said, going to the door and to her great pleasure it was the Blue Wonder himself. "Hi, Sonic."

"Hi, Amy," Sonic greeted with a wave.

"What brings you here?"

"I thought I'd come and see how things are goin' here."

"Oh, it's great. Aurora's been happy so far. We had lots of fun at the mall yesterday and had girl talks and such."

"Sounds like you two had a good time," Sonic remarked. Then he looked around the apartment. "Where is she, anyway?"

"Right here," she said, coming in the living room.

"Hey, good seein' ya."

"Likewise. How's Tails?"

"Oh, he's fine," he answered, but he didn't mention that he was still looking up her arrival because he didn't want to Aurora to get her hopes up for nothing if the young fox couldn't find anything. "He says hi. What were you girls gonna do today?"

"We haven't figured out that yet," Amy confessed.

"Then how about a little exploring?" Sonic suggested looking at me. "You haven't seen much of Mobius. Would you like to see some sights?"

Aurora thought about it for a moment and thought it would be fun to see the landscapes of this new world and to see what other Mobians look and act like as well.

"Yeah, I'm up for it," she answered with some enthusiasm. "Where can we go?"

"How about one of the meadows near here? You like flowers, don't you?"

"Sure, I love flowers." Aurora was always a nature girl at heart and loved any places with flowers, tall trees, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, oceanshores, and mountains. "Why don't we bring Cream, Cheese, and Tails, too?" she added.

"That's a great idea," Amy agreed.

"Uh, well, I think Tails will object," Sonic doubted, "He's busy with things right now, but Cream and Cheese can still come if they're not busy themselves."

"Okay, I'll go get them," Amy said, handing Aurora a key. "Would you mind locking up before you go?"

"No, I'll lock up," she answered, taking the key.

"Thanks."

"Hold up a minute," Sonic asked, sniffing something that came off of Amy. "Are you wearing perfume?"

"Why, yes, I am, thank you for noticing," Amy answered her cheeks blusing.

"It's nice. What is it?"

"Beautiful Day."

"Yes, Amy has a good sense of smell for perfumes," Aurora added.

Amy gave her a confused glance. _But you recommended it for me._

"It does smell very good. It is a great choice," Sonic agreed.

Amy blushed harder and casted her eyes down. "Well, thank you very much for the compliment."

Aurora smiled at how happy yet bashful Amy looked.

"I'd...better go get Cream and Cheese. See ya, guys," she called dazely, running off to get the kids.

After Aurora locked the door, she followed Sonic outside to the lovely sunny day in the city of Knothole where she admired the green hills and blue sky. She gave a smile when she felt the warm sunlight touching her pale freckled skin.

"You enjoyin' the sunlight?" Sonic asked, noticing she was still and had her eyes closed with her head pointed to the sky.

"Oh, well, yes," Aurora answered, rubbing her arm shyly. "I've always liked havin' the sun's rays embrace my skin."

"Can't argue with that," Sonic sympathized. "You wanna run to the meadow? The closest one isn't far and it'll be a good running practice."

"Sure," she nodded, making a starting pose.

Sonic did the same thing. "And yes, we are goin' in the right direction," he reassured.

"Good," she chuckled.

"Go!"

And with that cry, both human and hedgehog ran with just a bit of lightning speed. Aurora was still a beginner, but she ran with a speed that was better than the other day. She had to admit, she did like this sort of thing. She was always a walker, never a runner, but it felt good to be dashing through the green fields that was outside of town.

"How long 'til we get there?" she huffed.

"Not too long. At this speed, we should be there in three minutes."

Aurora hoped she could keep up the speed until they got there. "Say, Sonic, in your own words, how does running make it enjoyable for you?" she asked, still jogging and panting.

"That's a good question, Aurora," he answered with a smile and closed eyes, "It makes me feel free just like the wind."

"Huh, free as the wind blows," she thought under her breath.

"Uh-huh, but what makes it more fun is when you close your eyes," he added, with his own eyes still shut.

"'Close your eyes'?" she echoed.

"Yeah, when you close your eyes, you can definitely feel the joy of freedom as you run."

"Hmm..." she thought, "Then let's see how joyful it'll be for me." She closed her own eyes to see, well, _feel_ for herself. When she was running through the darkness that covered her vision, she did feel something. Something very unusual: Freedom. Never before was running this good, not even yesterday. She felt like the wind was with her as she flew over the grassy terrain, making her run faster than before. When she smiled, Sonic felt a great satisfaction. He'd turned this walker into a happy runner. Although she could never match a hedgehog's speed, he knew her running would improve greatly as long as she practiced.

At last, they reached the beautiful meadow. As Sonic stopped, he realized the girl was still jogging.

"Hey, Aurora!" he called, making her open her eyes.

"Where are you goin'?" he joked as she turned around. "We're here."

Looking at the flowers next to her, she laughed awkwardly, "Oh, yeah. Sorry, Sonic. I was just havin' fun with the run."

"I totally understand," he nodded sincerely with a wink.


	5. One Mystery After Another

**Chapter 5: One Mystery After Another**

At the meadow, there were flowers of so many different colors, red, yellow, purple, blue, green. To Aurora, it was like looking at a rainbow growing from the ground itself. She never saw this kind of meadow on Earth.

Sonic seemed to enjoy himself, picking and sniffing flowers. Later, Amy came with Cream and Cheese. They all enjoyed themselves and Aurora got to know them learning about their hobbies. For Sonic, it was running, obviously; sightseeing, traveling, and on slow days, which were rare for him, he'd sleep on a patch of flowers.

For Amy, it was shopping; playing with Cream and Cheese, and cooking. Aurora had expected her to say chasing Sonic, but she knew Amy didn't need to share it was no secret.

For Cream and Cheese, it was playing, helping Cream's mother, and making flower crowns for their friends, which is what they made for Sonic, Amy, and Aurora.

"These are beautiful, you two," she complimented, fixing her colorful crown.

"We're so glad you like it," Cream appreciated with Cheese chirping happily.

"Say, Aurora, what are your hobbies?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, well, it's taking pictures of places like this; reading what good books there are; listening to music; walking; twirling my stick, and daydreaming."

"That sounds like fun," Amy replied. "What do you daydream about?"

"Almost anything. I like to imagine myself visiting other worlds, meeting new people, and doin' things other people don't."

"Like waking up to a world with talking animals who have special skills and such?" Sonic queried with a smirk.

"Yeah, something like that," she answered simply, earning a laugh from the others. Then Aurora lay down on the flowers with her arms spread out. "Man, I can't believe all this wonder and beauty."

"Yeah, but Earth has nice places, too, if I recall," Sonic told.  
"Say, when did you guys come to Earth, anyway?" Aurora asked, remembering she never questioned them on their appearance to her world at all.

"Not long ago," Amy explained. "About two years."

"Two years, huh?" she repeated. "Well, obviously, you guys went into hiding 'cause I've never heard of any of you."

"Wait a minute, you never heard of us?" Sonic responded in surprise.

"No, shouldn't I have?" she asked, raising her head.

"Well, yeah, we did all sorts of stuff on Earth. We've been protecting your world from all sorts of disasaters."

Aurora was very confused. Just what kind of things did they do for her world? "Like what?"

"From this guy called Dr. Eggman," he explained, "He's a human scientist who lives on Mobius. He got sent to Earth along with us and he used to cause all sorts of trouble there. Attacking cities, sending dangerous robots, unleashing evil entities, and he even destroyed half of the moon."

"What?" Aurora asked in dismay. "But none of that ever happened on Earth."

"Huh?" everyone asked with shock.

"I mean, I would've heard any of that stuff from my mom and grandma and they always watch the news and they would've seen ones about talking animals defeating a mad scientist doing things like that, especially harming the moon."

"Are you sure?" Amy asked.

"I'm positive," Aurora confirmed.

"...Could it be that Aurora might be from a different Earth?" Cream suggested.

"Hmm..." Sonic thought. "Well, that must explain why you never said you heard any of us from your world."

* * *

After that lovely yet interestingly confusing midmorning day at the meadow, Aurora and the others ran back to Amy's apartment to try some of Aurora's bacci. They all liked it very much, much to Aurora's satisfaction. While Aurora put some cookies in a cookie tin she saved for Tails in the kitchen, Amy came in.

"Hey."

"Hey," Aurora replied, wrapping the cookie tin. "You need my help with somethin'?"

"Oh, well, actually, I just have a question," she admitted, looking away shyly.

"What's that?"

"Why did you tell Sonic I have a good smell of perfumes?"

"Well, you said you liked the perfume I picked out, but that's not what I wanted Sonic to think."

"You mean, you were trying to make me look good?"

"Yes, ma'am," she answered with a wink, "I understand how much Sonic means to you, so..."

"You mean, you're helping me get Sonic to like me back?" she asked excitedly.

"That I am."

"Oh, thank you, Aurora," Amy said, hugging her gratefully. "I'm so glad someone wants to help me in my love life."

"Don't mention it," Aurora replied. Normally, she wouldn't try to play matchmaker, but she respected Amy's feelings toward Sonic, so she thought she'd help her out a bit. Of course, she already knew Sonic wanted to be friends with her, but she couldn't help wanting to help Amy earn his affections.

Sonic and Aurora then left Amy with Cream and Cheese for a bit to give Tails a surprise visit and give him some bacci cookies.

Tails was glad to see Aurora, but he kept his zero luck of solving her arrival quiet.

"Would you like to try some bacci?" Aurora offered, sticking out a pink cookie tin in her hand.

"What's bacci?" Tails asked, tilting his head.

"It's these cookies Aurora baked yesterday," Sonic explained. "They're really good."

"Here," Aurora said, lifting the lid, revealing the chocolate frosted cookies balls. She took one out and handed it to him. "Try one."

He took a small bite, his eyes lighting up with happiness. "Mmm!"

"They're that bad, huh?" she asked sarcastically, making Sonic laugh.

"These are good," Tails commented. "It's chocolate on the outside, but vanilla on the inside."

"Yep, those are the perfect ingredients," Aurora stated, giving him the tin. "They're all yours."

"Thanks, Aurora," Tails replied, putting the tin on his table for later.

"Sure thing. And now that you're not eating, we've got somethin' to discuss."

"What?"

"Well, apparently," Sonic started, "Aurora's never heard of our adventures in our world."

"Not even the time when this enemy of yours, Dr. Eggman, blew up half of the moon," Aurora added.

"What? But you should have heard about that," Tails claimed.

"I know...but honestly...I think that the Earth you all got sent to...wasn't my Earth."

"We think Aurora might be from another Earth," Sonic concluded.

"Another Earth?" Tails echoed in dismay.

Aurora nodded. "That has to be the only explanation. After all, I should've known about all the stuff you did on the Earth you guys went to. Or I should've heard it from my relatives who watch news reports all the time."

"Whoa..." Tails thought quietly. "This is all very weird. Two Earths... Well, then, obviously, the Earth you came from is in another dimension where no one could have heard of us."

"Obviously so," Aurora agreed, folding her arms in thought. She couldn't understand. Not only does she not remember how she came to Mobius, there's also another Earth in another dimension different from hers.

What could all of this mean?

She was going to ask Tails if he found out anything, but since he said nothing about it, she figured she'd be wasting her breath.

Noticing how quiet Aurora looked, Sonic said, "Hey, we'll figure it out somehow."

"...I hope so," Aurora replied her eyes cast down.

* * *

After speaking to Tails that day, Aurora spent the next week in a half spending time with everyone. Having tea with Amy, Cream, and Cheese; telling Tails about the technology in her world when took the time from looking up her problem; sharing her songs from her iPod for her new friends to hear; listening to their stories about how they defeated Eggman many times in the past; and exploring some of Mobius with Sonic.

One day, Sonic came to take Aurora to a mountain, but this time, he had to run both of them there.

"Ready?" Sonic asked Aurora who was in his arms.

"Sort of," Aurora answered worriedly.

"Close enough," Sonic replied, dashing forward. Aurora closed her eyes and held him tight. She still couldn't get used to this hyper speed of Sonic's. It was just so great and hard for her, it scared her a lot.

Sonic noticed her fear and decided to keep the warp speed down a notch and started to slow down just a tad.

Aurora opened her eyes when she felt the change her blue friend's movement and lifted her head to meet his eyes. "Is everything okay?" she asked in concern, thinking he might be hurt if he was slowing down.

"Nah, I just thought I'd slow down just a little. Since you don't like my extreme speed so much."

"Oh, well, thanks, Sonic."

"Sure, and plus, you should be able to see the sights more clearly as we move."

Aurora took a look for herself and she could see things a bit better than usual when Sonic would run at lightning speed. The trees and scattered flowers zoomed past them, but she could still see well enough to distinguish them. Looking in front of her, she could see the mountains getting bigger with every step.

Finally, when they got up, they stopped at a little stream with flowers growing around all over. Aurora admired the beauty as Sonic gently put her down. "This is so amazing," Aurora commented standing up.

"Ain't it, though?" Sonic remarked walking up to the flowers to pick up and sniff. Aurora walked up to the stream, took off her shoes and socks, and dipped her feet in the water as she sat down on a rock.

She took a small glance at Sonic and saw that he didn't come to the water to join her. She wasn't surprised. Four days ago, she and her friends went to the beach and she noticed that Sonic wouldn't go near the ocean and she figured he was scared of water. She understood and thought that maybe he couldn't swim, but she said nothing to him about it.

She swished her feet in the water, enjoying the refreshing coolness. Unlike Sonic, water had a calm affect on Aurora that she couldn't explain.

Another thing she couldn't explain was how she got there. A week in a half had gone by and they hadn't found out anything yet.

If only they could find someone who can explain all of this.

Aurora thought, hugging her knees. _What if it feels like I have been gone a long time at home?_

Sonic saw this and walked up to her to see a depressed expression on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Just a little homesick," she confessed not looking at him.

Sonic understood, feeling a little sad for her. He sat next to her on the rock with his back towards the water that gave him shivers. "I know it's been a few days since you came here," Sonic spoke, making her head turn to him, "and we haven't found much of anything at all yet...but I did promisie ya we'd find out how you got here and I never break a promise." Looking at me, he grinned, "So cheer up. We'll solve this mystery together." He handed her the flower he was holding, his way of vowing that he will help her somehow.

Aurora looked at the flower and smiled. She never had a friend like Sonic who was willing to help her no matter what like that. "Thanks, Sonic," she said softly, sticking the flower in her hair.

"Sure thing, Aurora," Sonic winked with a thumbs-up.

* * *

Somewhere, in a lab far away from Knothole, a man with blue glasses, grayish-brown goggles resting on his forehead, a red coat, black pants, and the bushiest brown mustache anyone has ever seen, was busy looking at what his robot spies filmed for the past week in a half.

What was on screen was his speedy blue enemy Sonic and his friends with a red-haired girl whom he'd never seen before. He knew Knothole didn't have many humans visit, so he wondered what brought her there.

"Doctor, if I may ask, what is it about this girl you want to know about?" asked a yellow robot.

"Yes," a short silver robot agreed, "for all we know, she's just a human who moved to Knothole."

"She is a human and she is staying at Knothole," the doctor replied, "but she's been spending a lot of time with Sonic and his little group. Whenever that hedgehog is involved with new things going on, I just know something it must be something interesting and I want to know more about it."

The doctor watched the screen again and saw Sonic leaving the girl with Amy Rose and then went off to Tails's workshop. He wondered if Sonic and Tails would talk about anything good, so he fast-forwarded to where Sonic was speaking with Tails and hit the play button to listen.

"Found anything yet, Tails?" Sonic from the video asked.

"As usual, no," Tails sighed sadly, "I just can't find out anything that can help us understand how Aurora came to our world."

"What?" Eggman asked, rewinding the video.

"Can't find out anything that can help us understand how Aurora came to our world." Tails repeated.

"So...this Aurora is from another world, is she?" Eggman asked thoughtfully. "Now this is very juicy. Very juicy, indeed. But if they don't know how, she doesn't know, either. Hmm..." He looked through the videos and found an image of Aurora and used it to do some scanning.

"What are you doing, doctor?" the yellow robot asked.

"I want to see if there's anything even more interesting about her," Eggman answered as the scan did its work. Finally, the scanning stopped and it showed some kind of light in her chest. "What?" He looked into this light and found out something that made him even more interested...and gave him an awful idea.

"Well, well, well, it seems this girl has a very rare gift," Eggman declared with an evil smile, "A gift that I can use for my little project."

* * *

(Hey, guys, I. was. kitten speakin'. I know some of you are a little bored with the stuff in the beginning of my story, but I promise you that in the next chapter, things are going to get more exciting. And I realize I've been mixin' up the characters' point of views and if it's confusing all of you, I'm really sorry, but I've fixed it up and I hope it's better. However, if you guys have suggestions, please review. Thank you and God bless.)


	6. Enter Dr Eggman

**Chapter 6: Enter Dr. Eggman**

It was early in the morning after the trip to the mountains when Aurora woke up in Amy's apartment and thought she'd take a little run to the green hills outside of town. After leaving a note for Amy, she put on her shoes and jogged off.

As she ran, she closed her eyes for a minute and felt a surge of joy at the feeling of freedom yet again. Usually, a walk would make her feel better, but a run like this one was more effective. This was exactly why she decided to take a run. She wanted to be alone to clear her mind about everything going on between being stuck in another world, hearing about an Earth that wasn't hers, and finding nothing about how and why she was on Mobius to begin with. The only good thing that happened was befriending Sonic and the others.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the green hills on the horizon and picked up the speed. She wondered what it would be like if she could run like Sonic. Riding in his arms at that speed wasn't much fun in her opinion, but for her to run like that herself, well, that would be better.

Finally, she stopped and lay down on the grass. The sunrise looked very glorious to her, though she was more into sunsets. Everything on Mobius looked glorious to her, at least all the stuff she's seen for the past week in a half. She wished she could explore more. In fact, she wondered if people from other towns might know something of her arrival since no one in Knothole knew.

After thinking about it, she climbed up on one of the hills and saw the path that Sonic took that led him to her. She asked herself maybe if she followed that path herself, she could meet more people on the way and meet someone with the answers she needed. She thought about suggesting this to her friends. Not that she was doubting them...it's just that...she was feeling a little impatient.

She sighed and sat back down again, watching the clouds go by. Suddenly, a familiar voice said, "There you are," and made her jump and turn to see Sonic. "Sorry, did I scare you?" he asked.

"A little, but it's okay," she reassured, though she had her hand on her chest. "What brings you out here?"

"Well, I wanted to see what you and Amy felt like doing today, but when Amy told me you went out for a run out here, I thought I'd come look for ya."

"Oh, well, I just felt like a good jog," she explained, "And then I decided to lay down and watch the sky."

"Nothin' wrong with that," Sonic replied, lying down next to her.

Both human and hedgehog were quiet for a moment, then Sonic asked, "Say, what is your Earth like?"

"Boring, dull, and tasteless," she answered bluntly.

"Sounds like a fun place to be," Sonic replied sarcastically.

"The only places I like are in the country without all the people around. I'm sorta a loner and like peace."

"That's understandable, but of course you don't mind us, do ya?"

"Oh, no, I like all of you. You're all the best company I've had in a long time." Frankly, they were the best company she ever had in her life. Aurora was always shy around others and never said much to them.

"Don't you have friends at home?" Sonic wondered.

"Yeah, but I never talk to them now. They're all busy with their own lives. You know, college and stuff."

"What college are you in?"

"I'm not in college yet, but I do have a job. Two, actually. I'm washing cars and working at a pet store. Since I'm good at cleaning and with animals."

"Well, those sound like the perfect jobs for ya," he commented.

"Yeah, but more than anything, it gives me somethin' to do when I have too much time on my hands."

After a few minutes of looking at the sky, Aurora started to feel drowsy since she didn't sleep much last night and closed her eyes.

Sonic noticed this when he looked at her still. He thought at first if he should wake her up, but then thought it was best to let her relax for a while and wait.

* * *

Aurora started to stir and lifted her head to see the grassy hills around her.

"Well, it's about time," Sonic said holding a flower.

"What do you mean?" Aurora asked.

"You fell asleep, that's what I mean," he answered.

"I did? When?"

"Two hours ago."

"Two hours ago?" she repeated. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You were relaxing," he replied. "I wasn't gonna bother ya."

"Well, I'm sorry you had to wait so long," she apologized.

"That's okay," he reassured, "As long as you were comfortable."

Aurora smiled at his thoughtfulness, then her stomach growled.

"Sounds like you're hungry," he commented.

Her face turned red and she held her stomach, turning her head away.

He grinned with sensitivity, then announced, "Come on, let's go get some lunch."

"All right," she said, her cheeks starting to turn back into normal color.

Sonic came up to her and lifted her in his arms.

"Whoa, where we goin'?" she asked, bracing herself for the worst.

"To eat," he commented like the smart-aleck he is.

"I know," she answered, not amused, "but where at?"

"You'll see." He took off, but this time, he slowed down like he did when he carried her to the mountains, which she was grateful for. Then he stopped at a hot-dog joint in Knothole. "Here we are," Sonic announced, putting Aurora down.

"Where are we?" she asked, standing up.

"My favorite place for a bite to eat," he replied walking in, "Come on, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

They walked in the empty restaurant where Aurora saw an old blue hedgehog who looked like Sonic, only he had a gray moustache.

"Hi, Uncle Chuck," Sonic greeted.

"Well, hey there, Sonic," Chuck replied to his nephew, "How you doin'?"

"Great, thanks."

Noticing Aurora, Chuck asked, "Who's your friend?"

"This is Aurora," Sonic introduced, "She's new in town so I thought I'd bring her here. Aurora, this is my Uncle Chuck. He makes the best chili dogs on Mobius."

"A pleasure to meet you, Chuck," Aurora said, sticking out her hand.

"Likewise, Aurora," he replied, shaking her hand. "You like chili dogs?"

"Yes, sir," she answered.

"Well, then, would you like one or two?"

"One's fine, thank you."

"All right," he stated, then looked at his nephew, "Now I know you want two."

"You bet," Sonic replied, giving his uncle a thumbs-up.

As Chuck left, Aurora and Sonic took their seats and Aurora remarked, "I didn't know you had an uncle, Sonic."

"Well, you learn something new every day," he said with a shrug.

"Here they are," Chuck called, bringing their orders out.

"Wow, that was fast," Aurora commented.

"Nothin' to it but to do it," Chuck responded as if it's no problem.

"Now you know we're related," Sonic told Aurora who smiled and took a bite of her hot dog.

"This is really good, Chuck," she said.

"Thanks for sayin' so. Glad you like it," Chuck said.

"What'd I tell you?" Sonic asked.

"I believe it was 'the best chili dogs on Mobius'," Aurora quoted.

"That's exactly what I said," he replied, making her smile. After they were done, they bid farewell to Chuck.

"Thanks for the chili dogs, Uncle Chuck," Sonic called on the way out.

"My pleasure, Sonic," Chuck called back, "And it was nice meetin' ya, Aurora."

"You, too, Chuck," Aurora said. Once they were out, Aurora told Sonic, "Your uncle seems really nice."

"I'm happy you like him and his chili dogs," he replied. "Well, you wanna go someplace else?"

Aurora thought about it, but she couldn't think of anything. "What do you suggest?" she asked.

Sonic thought about it for a moment, then he had an idea. "I know a place," he said, lifting her in his arms again. "Hold on."

"No problem," she said worriedly, then he took off.

She wondered where they were headed, but decided to let it be a surprise and enjoyed the ride, looking at the trees going by.

Finally, Sonic came to stop. "Here we are," he announced. Aurora turned to see a different meadow filled with golden flowers as if the sun was growing all around.

"Wow...look at all the gold," Aurora gasped in amazement.

"Richer and more beautiful than the gold you can find in mines," Sonic remarked, putting her down.

"Agreed," she replied, standing up. "Man, these flowers go on forever. Nothin' but colorful beauty."

"It's always good to meet someone with a passion for flowers," Sonic said, picking up a flower to sniff.

"It's not just flowers. It's for a bunch of other natural things. Like mountains, woodlands, grassy hills, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, and oceans."

"...Sounds like most places you love are water-based," Sonic replied, feeling uneasy at the talk of water.

Aurora saw how uncomfortable he looked, but even though she knew she couldn't get him to get in the water, she wanted him to appreciate it more, so she said, "Well, water is what helps us give all this wonderful natural scenery. I mean, rain helps make the flowers and grass and trees grow, as well as the sun. The lakes and rivers and waterfalls help more, too. Without water in the world, we wouldn't have places like meadows or forests, now would he?"

Sonic thought about it for a moment and he knew she was right. Water does give life to the flowers and plants and he did have a love for nature as well as anyone, even if he would never love being in the water. "No, we sure wouldn't," Sonic said.

She smiled at his understanding, laying down next to him.

"Now don't take another nap," Sonic told her with a wink, "I'd rather not wait another 2 hours."

Aurora laughed. "I won't." Sniffing at a flower close to her face, she smiled and said, "I wish I could do this all the time."

"Why can't you?" Sonic asked, resting on his side to look at her.

"A lot of responsibilities," she answered, "Got to keep up with my jobs, get into college, get a better paying job, find a place a stay..." Looking at the meadow, she added, "Hopefully, somewhere closer to a landmark like this."

"Can't argue with that," he said, resting on this back, but his land slips and touches Aurora's side by mistake.

"Sorry," he apologized, seeing her shifting uncomfortably when he took his hand away. Then Sonic had an awful thought. "Wait a minute, are you ticklish?" he asked her.

She looked at him in horror. "What makes you say that?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"You were moving when I touched you right there."

"So what?" she shrugged.

Sonic grinned evilly, wiggling his fingers.

Aurora got up and warned him, "Sonic, don't you dare." But he lunged at her, making her dodge and yelp and run away in terror, but even with the speed she had now, she knew she could never outrun the fastest thing on Mobius.

"Gotcha!" Sonic cried, grabbing her and pushing her down.

"Oh, no, come on!" she pleaded, but Sonic gave her no mercy and tickled her sides. Aurora laughed uncontrollably and tried to get his hands off, but to no avail. "All right, okay, that's enough!" she shouted, "Please..."

Sonic ceased his tickling and laughed when he sat down on the ground with Aurora panting.

"Dang... Why'd you have to go and do that?" she demanded.

Sonic shrugged innocently, "Sorry, Aurora. Couldn't help it."

"Couldn't or didn't want to?" she queried with her arms folded.

"Is there a difference?" he asked, but she wasn't amused. She couldn't stand being tickled. She couldn't stand it at all.

Sonic saw how mad she looked and reassured her, "Don't worry, I won't tickle you again."

"Liar, liar, tail on fire," she averred.

"Well, I won't tickle you again anytime soon."

"Yeah, I figured," she said, leaning backwards.

Sonic smiled, but then that expression faded when his ears flicked upward all of a sudden.

"What's the matter, Sonic?" Aurora asked.

"We've got company," he whispered.

"Who?"

"Up there," he answered, pointing behind her.

Aurora turned and saw some kind of flying egg-shaped machine coming their way, carrying...a human? With a red coat and a really bushy moustache.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my old, friend, Sonic," the man said to the blue hedgehog.

"I don't recall being your friend, Eggman," Sonic reminded him.

"That's Eggman?" she asked, remembering Sonic and the gang's stories about their adversary.

"It sure is," Sonic answered, keeping his eyes on the mad scientist floating above them.

"I'm flattered you told your friend about me," Eggman said.

"Don't be 'cause I didn't say anything nice about you," Sonic retorted.

"I'm sure you didn't, but it's still satisfying that you mentioned me," Eggman replied, then looked at Aurora, "How's about you tell me a bit about your friend here?"

"You don't need to know anything about her," Sonic declared.

"Now, Sonic, let's not be rude. Wouldn't it be fair if I knew her as she knows me?"

"Telling your friends about your enemies is one thing, Egghead" Sonic remarked, "but telling your enemies about your friends is another."

"Fine, I'll just ask her my questions instead," Eggman said, two claws sticking out of his flying machine, reaching out for Aurora.

Sonic lifted her bridal style and jumped in the air, avoiding the claws and flew over the doctor.

"Hold on," Sonic whispered in Aurora's ear and took off as she wrapped her arms around him.

"You can run, hedgehog," Eggman called, "but you can't hide and neither can she."

"What's he interested in me for?" Aurora asked Sonic.

"I don't know, but I don't think we should take our chances," Sonic answered, running at the speed of light, scaring Aurora when she closed her eyes shut. Finally, Sonic came to a stop and said, "I think we lost him."

"My goodness," Aurora breathed, her heart pumping hard.

"I'm sorry that it was too much, but I wasn't gonna let Eggman have ya," Sonic apologized.

"I know and I appreciate it," she assured him, "I'm still curious about why he wants me, though."

"Me, too, but whatever it is, it can't be good."

"What do we do?" she asked.

Sonic thought and knew there was only one solution. "Well, I'm gonna team up with Tails so we can find out what Eggman's up to, but until then, I think we should hide you somewhere Eggman can't find you."

"Like where?"

"I know a place, but..." Sonic trailed, not sure how to say it.

"But what?"

"Well, you know this guy Knuckles the Echidna?" he asked.

Aurora nodded, remembering the red echidna Sonic and the others told her about, that he was a guardian of a big powerful emerald on a floating island called Angel Island, which fascinated her very much. "Oh, I think I understand," she said in realization, "If I stay with Knuckles on his island, Eggman wouldn't find me there."

"Yeah, but the thing is...he's not used to having guests and he's not always the friendliest guy there is. He's got a good heart, but he can be kinda grumpy and he's kind impatient."

"Then I guess he and I have a few things in common," she replied simply.

"Wait, now I've gotten to know you and you don't seem anywhere near as grumpy and impatient as Knuckles. Plus, you seem friendly enough."

"Well, back at home, I can be kinda crabby and let's not forget I'm a loner, remember?" she reminded him. "So I don't always socialize."

"That's funny, Knuckles is like that, too," Sonic remarked.

"But I'll make sure not to get in his way. And if he needs any help on his island, I'll give him a hand."

"Well, when you put it that way...all right." So Sonic dashed towards Knothole, where they would have to go get Tails and give him the bad news.

* * *

As soon as Sonic brought Aurora to Amy's apartment, Aurora quickly explained to Amy about what happened at the meadow with Eggman and wasted no time packing.

"I just don't understand why Eggman would be after you," Amy said, helping her pack.

"I don't know, either, but Sonic says it's best if I hid on Angel Island for a bit until he and Tails can find out." Finally, Aurora had all of her clothes in one of Amy's suitcases what Amy lend to her.

Amy looked down at the floor with a sad expression.

"Amy?" Aurora asked, noticing her friend's unhappy face.

"It's just that...well, it was so much fun having you here," Amy confessed, "Having someone to have girl talks with, cooking and baking with, and helping me get Sonic to like me. It was like having a sister around."

Aurora understood this and was sorry she had to leave someone who was like a sister to her, too. "Hey, it'll be okay," Aurora reassured her. "Sonic always solves everyone's problems, right? I'm sure he'll solve this problem with Eggman, like he usually does. Plus, he'll have you, Tails, Cream, and Cheese helpin', too. You guys make a pretty good team, from what I've been hearin'."

Amy smiled in agreement and nodded. "Right." Then she hugged her. "But I'm gonna miss you, though."

Aurora was shocked at this. She usually wasn't affectionate with someone new until maybe a month or two...but she grew fond of her and the others, so she hugged Amy back. "I'll miss you, too. Please tell Cream and Cheese I'll miss them, too."

"I will," she said, a tear coming down her eye.

It kind of hurt Aurora to leave her new friends so suddenly. She wished she didn't have to leave, but she knew she had no choice if she wanted to stay away from Eggman's clutches.

* * *

At Taill's workshop, Sonic quickly told Tails about Eggman and told him that they should take Aurora to Knuckles on Angel Island.

"You're saying we should what?" Tails asked when Sonic mentioned Knuckles.

"Look, Tails, Eggman's after her and I dont' think it'd be a good idea to keep her with us," Sonic reasoned, "I think we should ask Knuckles to keep an eye on her."

"Well, I understand what you mean, but you know how Knuckles is with visitors," Tails reminded him.

"I know, but Aurora's a good person to be with and she said she'll pull her own weight on the island to help Knuckles out."

"Well..."

"Come on, let's at least ask him," Sonic insisted

"Okay," Tails sighed in defeat, "but I'm still worried about what he'll say."

"Hey, if it's Eggman who's after her, I'm sure he'll understand," Sonic assured.

(Well, guys, are you all glad that I'm finally putting in a little of excitement in this? I hope so. And it'll get even more interesting in the next chapter. Please review and God bless.)


	7. Knuckles the Guardian of Angel Island

**Chapter 7: Knuckles the Guardian of Angel Island**

After a tearful good-bye to Amy, Aurora went with Sonic to Tails's workshop to see their ride that'll take them to Angel Island. Tails led them downstairs to a basement and presented a long silver jet with a yellow nose and a wide rear.

"Wow," Aurora awed, "What do you call this, Tails?"

"It's the X-Tornado," he answered, patting the jet, "She's been good to us for a while and she's in good shape."

"She does look amazing," Aurora complimented.

"Glad you think so," Tails replied with a bashful grin, "The back seat's yours. The front seat's mine since I'm the pilot."

"Hang on, where'll you sit, Sonic?" Aurora asked him.

"I'll ride on one of the wings."

"The wings?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Don't worry," Sonic assured her, "I've done it many times before without falling."

"Well, as long as you're sure," Aurora said, climbing into her seat with her suitcase.

"Get ready for take-off," Tails told them. The engine started, the jet was humming with life, and took to the sky. "Here we go!" Tails cried.

When they were high up, Aurora took a look out the window and saw the green fields and meadows and mountains they were flying above, then she looked at the clouds that were so close, she could touch them if she didn't need the window down.

"This is incredible," Aurora told them, "I've never been in a jet before."

"Wait until you see the island," Sonic said, "I think you'll like it."

"There it is, Angel Island dead ahead." Tails announced, letting Aurora see that there actually is a floating island high above the world itself.

"Whoa, it's so big!" Aurora gasped, "How is it possible that it can float again?"

"It's the Master Emerald that keeps the island up," Tails explained, "As long as the emerald's there, it'll stay where it is."

"...I don't suppose Knuckles knows we're coming," Aurora asked hesitatedly.

"Uh, no, he doesn't," Tails admitted. "He doesn't have a communicator, you see."

"So, in other words, we're paying him a surprise visit," Aurora remarked worriedly, tabbing her fingers together.

"Pretty much, but he'll like you," Sonic comforted, "I'm sure."

"I hope so." Aurora was very nervous. She was afraid Knuckles would not only be upset to have an unexpected guest, but that she would make a bad first impression, making him dislike keeping an eye on her more.

* * *

On the island, Knuckles, a red echidna with a crescent-moon mark on his chest and spikes on his gloves, was lying down on the bottom of the stairs of the giant, glowing green Master Emerald's pedestal when he heard something in the sky and looked up to see the X-Tornado.

"Sonic and Tails? What brings them here?" he asked himself, standing up.

Tails opened the canopy and greeted Knuckles with a wave, "Hi, Knuckles,"

"Hey, guys," Knuckles greeted with a slight wave, "This is a sudden visit."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Sonic remarked.

"Uh, Knuckles, we actually came up here to ask you something important," Tails told him.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Well, first, we wanna introduce you to a friend of ours," Sonic said, motioning his hand to the red-haired girl who was behind Tails and waved shyly at him saying, "Hello."

"Hang on, you brought a stranger to the island?" Knuckles cried, sounding very mad.

"Now, Knuckles, please let us explain," Tails requested.

* * *

After getting off the X-Tornado, Knuckles sat down on the stairs with his arms folded while he listened to Sonic and Tails about how they met Aurora and about her situation regarding her origins and about Eggman hunting her.

"I see, so Eggman's after her, huh?" Knuckles asked, after they finished talking, his angry expression lowered to a look of understanding.

"That's right," Tails nodded, "and we think this island is a good place to hide her."

"Just until we find out what Eggman wants with her and stop him," Sonic added.

Knuckles looked down at the ground for a moment, then closed his eyes in thought.

Aurora found the courage to say something to him to assure him she wasn't going to be a burden. "Um, Knuckles," she started, making him open an eye to her, "I understand that you're not used to having visitors up here, but I promise to help in any way I can while I'm staying. And I'll be sure to follow any rules you have around this island."

Knuckles opened both eyes to her and when she saw her unmoved look of sincere, he announced, "Okay, she can stay here. And since she's on Eggman's wanted list, she's welcome on Angel Island."

"Thanks, Knuckles," Tails said.

"And don't worry, Knuckles," Sonic assured, "she won't give you any trouble."

"I promise, I won't," she vowed.

Knuckles nodded, "I certainly appreciate that."

* * *

Before Sonic and Tails bid farewell and climbed back up to the X-Tornado, Tails handed Aurora a small wrist communicator. "When we find out what Eggman's up to, we'll let you know," he told her.

She took the device and strapped it on. "Thank you, Tails."

Aurora was very sad. She didn't want to say good-bye to the very first people she met since her first day on Mobius.

Sonic came up to her, put his hand on her back that made her look at him, and gave her a wink and a thumbs-up. "Don't worry, we've always defeated Eggman before and we'll do it again."

Aurora nodded, knowing to trust Sonic to be the good guy who always keeps his promises. "Thanks for everything you're doing, guys."

"No problem," Sonic said.

"Yeah, we're happy to help," Tails added.

Knuckles watched this and saw how close she was to those two.

With that, the blue hedgehog and yellow fox climbed up on the X-Tornado and took off to the blue wander where the Blue Wonder called, "Catch ya later, Aurora!"

"Bye, guys!" Aurora called, waving after them. "Good luck!" They were almost out of sight, looking like a speck in the air. Tails's wings were fast, Aurora had to admit.

After they were gone, Knuckles walked up to her and said, "Well, I guess I should show you around."

Aurora turned to follow him and looked at the big gem sitting on the pedestal. "So that's the Master Emerald?" she asked, pointing at the top of the stairs.

"That's right, been protecting it for quite sometime," Knuckles explained, looking back at all the days and nights he'd been through over the years, guarding the emerald.

"And it keeps the island in the sky?"

"Mm-hmm, as long as it stays in its pedestal."

Aurora thought now would be good to ask him the 'do's and 'don't's of his island home. "So, uh, Knuckles, what are the rules around here?"

"Well, first thing," Knuckles pointed a finger up with a firm tone in his voice, "the Master Emerald's off limits."

Aurora wasn't intimidated very much because she understood his seriousness, him being the guardian. "I won't come near it without your permission," she promised with a heart on her chest.

Knuckles smiled and nodded in satisfaction at her respect, "Good. There are also other places that are prohibited, but there are a few places you can go. I'll show you as we move."

* * *

Knuckles showed Aurora all sorts of places on the island: the vast, dense jungle; flourishing vineyards; lovely hot springs; and huge waterfalls that sounded like thunder as the water came down from the mountains flowing to the ends of the island and falling into the sky.

"You wanna see what the island looks like from the mountains?" Knuckles asked, indicating his thumb to the mountain ledge.

"Sure..." Aurora nodded, but then looked at the tall ledge Knuckles was pointing at. "Hang on, are we gonna rock climb up there?"

"Well, we can't take the elevator," Knuckles joked.

"The thing is: I've never even climbed a tree, let alone a mountain," Aurora confessed, rubbing her arm.

"That's okay, you don't have to climb," he assured her, "You hang on to me and I'll carry us both up there."

"...Sounds like a good idea," she thought.

Knuckles held a good grip on the rocky wall with Aurora holding on to his shoulders.

"Now, hold on tight," he told her, "because we're gonna be high up."

She nodded and she felt her feet leave the ground as Knuckles used the spikes on his gloves to scale up the mountain.

Half way up, the peak of the mountain appeared closer to Aurora.

"How you holding up, kid?" Knuckles asked her.

"I'm fine, why?"

"Just making sure you're not scared of heights."

"Well, if I was scared of heights, would I agree to come up here?" she queried.

"Good point."

Aurora decided to look a little look down, but when she saw how high they were, she started to feel dizzy and hid her face in Knuckles's hair as she clung on to him tighter.

"I thought you said you weren't afraid of heights," he teased, raising an eyebrow.

"That was before I looked down," she mumbled.

He laughed with her and told her, "Just keep your grip on me and keep your eyes upward. We're almost there."

"I'm sorry," Aurora apologized, taking her face from his hair, "It's just that Sonic usually runs the two of us to the mountains, not scale them like you do."

"I see," he understood as he climbed.

Finally, they reached the top of the mountain and stopped at a cliff to get a good view of the island. And what a view! Aurora gasped with utmost amazement when she saw how wonderful the sight was. The colorful birds flew above the tall thick trees; the floating clouds looking like sailing ships, which made the blue sky look like the sea; the vineyard grapes shining from the sunlight, and Aurora could also make out the glowing Master Emerald which looked a green firefly from her view on the mountain.

From what Aurora could also see was a man... Well, Mobian man-made structure close to the emerald's pedestal. A hut that Knuckles lived in, she guessed. "Hey, Knuckles, I think I can see your hut from here," Aurora told him, pointing towards the house.

"Can you?" he asked, looking in her direction. "Huh, you must some sharp eyes, kid. It's pretty far from way up here yet you saw it so quickly."

"Oh, well, thank you, I've been known to have good vision," she replied bashfully, "I have to tell you, Knuckles, your island is really beautiful."

Knuckles smiled at her compliment towards his home. "Glad you like it."

"And you have this all to yourself?"

"Yep, just me."

"It must be nice," she said, thinking about her goal of finding a place to call her own.

"It sure is," he replied, then looked at the sun setting in the west. "It's getting late. We should head back down and go to my hut before it gets dark."

"Okay."

She crouched down and held onto his shoulders, but this time, he told her, "Now, here's the thing: I know a faster way down the mountain. You may not know this from Sonic, but I can glide in the sky."

"Really?" she asked in surprise. "Wow!" Then her enthusiasm vanished when she understood what he was going to say next. "Hang on...are you suggesting we glide down from here?"

"Not unless you don't mind walking in the dark by the time we get down," he shrugged.

Aurora thought and she took a deep breath and reluctantly said, "Okay, go for it."

Knuckles straightened his arms forward and jumped down the cliff, gliding above the trees. Aurora hung on with dear life with her eyes closed shut at first...then she found the courage to open her eyes and take a look. She stared in awe as Knuckles soared through the air, making her less afraid... Actually, she was enjoying it a lot.

Knuckles saw this and grinned. Finally, he landed on his feet, making sure the landing was safe for his passenger. "Well, was it too scary?" he asked.

"It was at first, but then...it turned out to be really fun," she admitted.

"Good, 'cause you kinda choked me a bit the minute I flew down," he said, rubbing his neck.

"Sorry," she replied, letting go of the echidna.

"It's okay, but I'm glad you're not afraid of heights now."

She gave a modest shrug. It was actually her dream to fly herself, so she guessed flying on Knuckles made her feel less afraid.

"Well, we'd better turn in," Knuckles stated, leading the way to his hut with Aurora following.

* * *

Knuckles and Aurora came to a hut that was one story, so it was small, but it was as good as any hut and even better looking on the inside. Aurora had never been in a hut before, but she did like the looks of the place. A small, cozy living room; a decent kitchen, just about most of the comforts of home.

"I'm sorry if it's small," Knuckles apologized.

"That's okay. I'm short, so it won't be much of a problem," she assured, making him smile.

"Then I hope it won't be a problem when I tell ya you have to sleep on the couch since there's only one bedroom," he told her regretfully, pointing at the couch, which wasn't all that small to Aurora, anyway.

"It's fine," she said.

By evening, Aurora felt exhausted and decided to hit the hay. Knuckles came into the living room from his bedroom to give Aurora a comforter.

"Thank you, Knuckles," she said, taking the blanket.

"No problem," he said with a wave, "I'll let you get settled. I'm gonna get some shut-eye."

"All right. Night, Knuckles," she called as he left the room.

"Night, Aurora," he called back.

Aurora smiled and had to say, she liked the red echidna. He didn't seem all that grumpy and impatient to her. And thankfully, she made a good impression on him and as long as she kept up with the rules and helped him with the island, she knew they'd get along just fine.

With that, she covered herself with the comforter and closed her eyes, wondering what tomorrow would bring.


	8. A Paradise Until The End

(Hey, guys, I'm very, very, _very_ sorry you waited this long. You see, I'd just moved to a new home and the arrangements to get our Internet back changed, but you're in luck. I'd just written three new chapters as a Thanksgivin' treat to all of you who had waited. Please enjoy and God bless.)

* * *

**Chapter 8: A Paradise Until The End**

The next morning, Aurora woke up and stared around in panic at her new surroundings, then remembered Sonic and Tails brought her to Knuckles to keep her safe from Eggman.

_Speakin' of Knuckles, where is he? _Aurora thought. She wondered if he was asleep, but to her surprise, she heard him coming from the front door.

"Ah, I was wondering if you were up," he said as he came in. "You sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Good," he nodded, bringing his hands to the back of his head, "'Cause I was afraid maybe you wouldn't have liked sleeping on that old thing."

"It was fine," she assured him, fixing her comforter. "So what are we doing today?"

"Well, it's about time to get some breakfast, but we have to get it from the trees on the island."

"Okay, then, let me get ready and we'll be on our way," she said.

After Aurora fixed herself up, Knuckles took her to one of the tall trees with the best tasting fruit. Knuckles asked her to carry a basket to put the fruit in and it was a fairly big basket. About the size of a regular fruit bowl.

Knuckles climbed up the tree to reach the fruit and when he came up to a branch close enough, he called down to Aurora. "You catch the fruit in the basket as I drop them to ya, okay?"

"Okay," she replied, holding the basket up.

Knuckles dropped one fruit to her and she caught it with ease. "Got it!" she called triumphantly.

"Good catch," he commented with a thumbs-up.

She nodded in gratitude, but it made her a little sad to see him do a thumbs-up like Sonic did. Fortunately, that sadness quickly went away when she focused her attention on the fruit Knuckles had dropped and caught every single one of them.

"Not bad, Aurora," Knuckles complimented with a hand on his hip, leaning on the tree, "Not bad at all."

"Thank you for saying so," she replied with a flattered smile, when she got curious about something and asked, "Say, uh, how'd you climb that tree?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I've always wondered what it'd be like to climb trees," she explained shyly, "and I told you yesterday I've never got to do it, so..."

"Oh, so you'd like to learn how?" he concluded.

"Uh-huh."

"Well, it's not hard. You just need to get a good grip on the tree," he instructed. She put the basket down and held onto the tree trunk. "And get your feet up," Knuckles added. Aurora was afraid at first, but obeyed and put feet against the tree, then started to slowly climb up towards Knuckles's branch.

"I can see that this is your first time climbing," Knuckles observed gently.

"Well, actually, I have tried to do it before," she admitted, "but with not much success or anyone to teach me."

"I see."

Finally, Aurora reached Knuckles who extended a hand to her and helped her up the strong thick branch that held them both up.

"Not half bad," he commented, "Needs a bit more practice, though."

Aurora smiled in satisfaction, but then had to ask, "So, uh, how do you climb down?"

"Can you land on your feet?"

Aurora took a look at the height of the fall and she knew it was safe enough to land. "Yes, I can." She took a jump and kept her knees bent and made a safe landing. She breathed with content and pride. "Wow, that was good. I actually climbed a tree."

Knuckles smiled at her happiness and landed next to her. "Yeah, but of course, a person can climb down the same way they climb up," he advised, then made a very light punch on her shoulder, "Other than that, not too shabby, kid."

"Thanks, Knux," she replied. "I can call you that, right?"

"Sure, just don't call me Knucklehead like Sonic does," he answered firmly but gently.

"No problem."

"Come on, let's get this fruit back to the hut," Knuckles said, pointing at the basket full of fruit.

Aurora grabbed their breakfast and followed Knuckles to his house.

"So you're from Earth, huh?" Knuckles asked, remembering her origins.

"Uh-huh, and you've been there with Sonic, haven't you?" she asked back.

"Yeah, all sorts of crazy things happened to us there," Knuckles remarked, rubbing his head.

"So I've heard."

"But the Earth you're from is another Earth, right?" he queried.

Aurora nodded, "Right. It's just that, all of the people on that Earth heard about you and if it was my Earth, how come my family, friends, and I never heard about you ourselves?"

"I see your point there," Knuckles agreed.

"Although, I wish we were on that Earth to see all of you there," she remarked.

"At least you can see us here," Knuckles said.

"Yeah." _Except no relative or friend of mine can see you... I wonder how everyone at home is doing. I wonder how Sonic and the others are doing. _

* * *

Back in Knothole, Sonic helped Tails put up special little machines all over town. Machines that could mess up spying devices, like Eggman's. Tails knew that Eggman must've sent some robots to spy on them, so he thought it'd be a good idea to make those little gizmos of his and spread them everywhere in Knothole so Eggman couldn't find out anything.

By the time it was sunset, Sonic came back to Tails's workshop and announced, "All right, Tails, that's it. Every device of yours is in almost every inch of the city."

"Thanks, Sonic," Tails said with a satisfied smile, "We can't take any chances in case Eggman sends his robotic spies on us again."

"All that's left is to find that Egghead," Sonic implied, his arms folded in thought. "But where could he be?"

"We should start a search on the X-Tornado in the morning," Tails suggested.

"Good idea," Sonic remarked. _And hopefully, it won't take us too long to get our hands on him and make him tell us what he wants Aurora for. Speakin' of which, I wonder how she's doin' with Knuckles. _

* * *

Three days after staying on the lovely paradise that was Angel Island, Aurora was at one of the hot springs, where she wanted to think alone. She'd wondered what was going on with Sonic and Tails since they haven't called in a while and she was starting to worry. She knew already from their stories that they had beaten their enemy Eggman over and over before, but still...

Later, she slowly walked back to the pedestal where Knuckles was at, guarding the Master Emerald at the bottom of the stairs. He was leaning against the steps with his hands behind his head, then turned to see Aurora on her way.

"Well, look who's back," he called.

"Hi," she greeted with a small smile and a wave.

"Where'd you go off to?" Knuckles asked curiously.

"For a run to the springs. Then I walked back," she answered, not looking at him.

"Is that all?"

"What'd you mean?" she asked.

"Well, judging by your face, it looks like something's bugging you," he observed, leaning his chin in his hand with his elbow resting on his knee.

Aurora gave a confessed sigh and explained, "It's been three days since I came here and I haven't heard word one from Sonic and Tails."

"Ah, so you're worried about them," he guessed, leaning back on the steps again.

"Uh-huh."

"Hey, I've known those two for a long time," Knuckles said with a reassuring grin, "Nothing can take them down, especially Sonic."

"I know, but I..." Aurora started, but then stopped, rubbing her arm and looking away.

Knuckles looked at her with sympathy. He knew from how sad she was saying good-bye to Sonic and Tails that she cared about them a lot. He took a look at the Master Emerald and thought of something that would get her mind off things. "Hey," he said, getting her attention, then motioned his head to the emerald, "Come up here. I got a few stories I'd like to share with you about the Master Emerald."

She followed him up the stairs and when she was on top, she could clearly see how large it was. About maybe the size of a grizzly bear. And it glowed with such brightness of green, it looked even more amazing close up. "Wow..." she whispered.

Knuckles then explained to her how a long, long time ago, his people were part of a tribe who took care of the island and protected the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald was the reason for the existence of these little gems called Chaos Emeralds that let off some power and when all seven are brought together, unspeakable power unleashes from them, especially to those who uses them. Knuckles told Aurora that Sonic himself can use Chaos Control from those emeralds to help him save the day, which amazed her. Of course, the Master Emerald itself has its own mystical powers, too.

"And as its Guardian, I can't let anything happen to it," Knuckles finished.

"No wonder you're so protective of it," Aurora remarked, staring at the emerald in thought. "But it's not like someone like a gem thief could work it, right?"

"Well, no, they can't, but a scientist like Eggman would know what to do with it, and that's why we don't want him anywhere near it or any of the Chaos Emeralds."

Aurora thought again for a moment and said, "Say, if this emerald's that magical, couldn't you use it to send me back to where I'm from?"

"If it was that simple, kid, I would've told you and Sonic and Tails when you got here," he explained, making Aurora feel naive for asking, "You see, I'm afraid that if I try to send you anywhere, something might happen to you, so I don't think we should risk it."

Aurora sighed with disappointment. "That figures." She sat down on the steps and said, "I just hope Sonic and Tails'll find Eggman before he finds me."

Knuckles wondered what else he could do to cheer her up. Suddenly, he had an idea and made a mischievous grin. "You know something, Aurora?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"Before Sonic left, he told me something very interesting," he answered, his grin still stuck on his face.

"What's that?" she asked, getting suspicious.

"Something about you being..." Then he had an evil look in his eyes. "...ticklish."

Aurora's eyes widened and she got up and ran for dear life.

"And the chase begins," Knuckles told himself, then ran after her.

Aurora didn't know what to do at first. The island was his turf, after all. She hid behind a tree and saw a hollow inside the trunk and slid in there.

Knuckles followed her to the spot she was at, but he couldn't see where she was. He knew she was near, then he saw the stepped-on grass that led behind the tree. With an idea in his head, he jumped lightly on a branch above Aurora's tree and kept quiet.

Aurora peered from her hiding place to see where the echidna was, but she couldn't see him, so she thought he went someplace else.

To her surprise, Knuckles yelled "Gotcha!" and jumped down on top of her and pinned her to the ground.

"Oh, no fair!" she yelled frantically, trying to get away.

"Oh, it's fair, all right," Knuckles replied, moving his fingers on her sides. Aurora laughed hysterically. "Not again. Stop, stop, please. Uncle, uncle. Jeez!"

At her loud plea, Knuckles let her go and sat down smiling.

"Why'd you do that?" she demanded, the same tone she gave Sonic when he tickled her.

"Because you needed it," he answered simply.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You were looking upset. I thought you could use something that'll make you laugh."

"It made me laugh, all right, but no the way I like it," she replied, folding her arms.

"Well, it still did the trick," he said, gently punching her shoulder, giving her a wink.

It made Aurora grin because Knuckles was like Sonic in a way: being a good friend to her by cheering her up. "I suppose so," she confessed. "It did make me feel better."

"See what I mean?" he queried, folding his arms.

"Yeah."

"Come on, let's go back," he announced, standing up, "We've got firewood to collect." He offered his hand and helped her up.

As she followed Knuckles, Aurora was really grateful to Knuckles. And not just him, to Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream, and Cheese. Since she was always a loner, her friends respected her space and left her be, so they never went to her often and see if she was okay or if she needed cheering up. Aurora knew it wasn't because they didn't care, but just didn't want to bother her.

However, these new Mobian friends of Aurora's don't stay away from her at all. They're always checking on her and trying to find ways to keep her from feeling homesick. She hoped she could be a person to be there for them, too.

* * *

Two days have gone by and Aurora was having a good time there. She practiced her climbing skills so much that she climbed faster than usual when she and Knuckles went to get some fruit.

"Look out below," she called before she dropped to Knuckles who caught the fruit in the basket.

"I have to tell you, you're getting better at climbing," Knuckles commented.

"I can only thank the person who taught me," she replied.

"Well, good teachers come from good students," he remarked, making her smile. She was happy to be learning these things from Knuckles like she was learning how to run faster from Sonic and cook recipes from Amy.

After they collected all the fruit they needed, they headed back to the hut, Aurora asked, "Hey, Knuckles, do you think you can teach me how to mountains climb, too?"

"You want to?"

"Yeah, why not?" she shrugged.

"Okay, if you want, but I'm gonna have to make some gloves for you," he told her. "Because mountain climbers need gloves on for protection when scaling rock."

"Right. It's too bad I can't ask you to teach me how to glide in the air like that," she added with a hand behind her head.

"Nope, that sort of gliding isn't for humans," he replied, "but you've still got other good uses, like running, for instance, cooking, tree-climbing, catching falling fruit, collecting plenty of firewood, and hauling water without breaking a sweat."

"Well, back at home, I wash cars so bringing heavy buckets filled with water is my thing," she explained.

"Any other talents you've found on your own before you came here?" Knuckles asked curiously.

"Well, I'm good at cleaning and working with animals. I have sharp eyes to find the best pictures in the world and sometimes, I have a good memory. And I learned how to twirl a stick in my hand. Truth be told, I'm not a very interesting person at all."

"Now that is not true at all," he said firmly, making her stop in her tracks. "I'm not gonna stand here and let you say negative things about yourself. First of all, you are an interesting person and it's not because where you're from. From what I've learned about you for the past five days, you're a good learner and a good helper with a polite and respectful behavior along with a great sense of humor and more importantly, a good heart." Lightly punching her shoulder, he added, "So don't ever think you're boring 'cause you're not."

Aurora took in his words and smiled at his compliments. "Thanks for sayin' so, Knux."

"Only saying it 'cause it's true," he said with a simple shrug and a grin.

* * *

After having dinner, Knuckles decided to teach Aurora how to use herbs to heal wounds and cure illnesses.

"And that's how you stop any infection with marigold," Knuckles explained. "All right, that's enough for tonight."

"I appreciate you teaching me these herbs, Knuckles," Aurora thanked.

"Don't mention it, kid," Knuckles replied, lightly punching her shoulder again, "You never know, you might need to know these things in the future."

Before anything else happened, Aurora jumped in surprise when she heard her wrist com beeping. "It's Sonic and Tails!" she cried in delight and quickly turned on the device

"Aurora, this is Tails calling," Tails announced from the com.

"I can hear you loud and clear, Tails," she replied happily. "I'm so glad to hear from you. I was getting worried."

"Sorry, Aurora," Tails said, "but we've been really busy tracking down Eggman."

"I see." She knew from that report that they hadn't found him yet, but at least she knew Sonic and Tails were all right. "Where is the Blue Wonder, anyway?" Aurora queried.

"Right here," said the familiar voice of Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Hi, Sonic," she greeted.

"Hey, Aurora, how's it hangin'?" he asked.

"Just fine. Things have been pretty good here, so far. It's really nice on this island."

"Yeah, but I bet the Guardian's hard to live with," Sonic joked.

"You should know I'm right here standing next to her, Blue Wonder," Knuckles warned.

"Whoops," Sonic said, "Aurora, why didn't you say he was there?"

"You didn't ask," she answered sarcastically, nudging and winking at Knuckles who grinned.

"All right, smart aleck," Sonic responded, slightly irked, "so you two getting along okay?"

"Yeah, we like each other already," Aurora answered.

"Didn't take long," Knuckles added, "She's been good, pulling her own weight and helping around the island."

"It's great you two like each other's company," Tails commented, "especially since we still haven't found Eggman yet."

"Well...I'm sure he's bound to show up sooner or later." Aurora reassured, though she was anxious herself.

"Any ideas why he's after Aurora?" Knuckles asked.

"Not exactly," Tails answered reluctantly, "We can't really imagine what he'd want with her."

"...Well, I'm from another world," Aurora pointed out, "You think Eggman knows that?"

"Well, honestly, I think it's a definite possibility," Tails said, "That's why we put up machines all over Knothole to damage any spying robots that Eggman would send. But I don't see what your origins would do for him."

"Well, he might want to know how he can get to my world and I guess he thinks I might help him," Aurora supposed.

"You really think that's it?" Sonic asked her.

"Well, it's just my theory, Sonic," she shrugged.

"That may be why he wants you, though" Tails agreed thoughtfully, "but we're gonna keep looking into it."

"And don't worry, we'll call you soon," Sonic added.

"Thank you," Aurora said, "Be careful, you guys."

"Where's the fun in that?" Sonic asked playfully.

Aurora scoffed in amusement. "Just please call us as soon as you can."

"We will, Aurora," Tails reassured, "Bye."

After the call ended, Aurora asked Knuckles, "Is Sonic always like that?"

"Oh, yeah," he answered straight-forwardly, "but you get used to it."

* * *

Somewhere in Eggman's secret lab, the doctor was very irritated because the interfering signal from Tails's machines damaged Eggman's robot-spies, so he couldn't get information from Knothole anymore. So now he's reduced to searching for Aurora on his own.

"I know the girl's still on this planet," Eggman declared, rubbing his chin, "Sonic hid her, but where?"

"Maybe someplace where Sonic wouldn't think you'd find her," Decoe, the yellow robot suggested.

"Hmm...yes, he could've done that," Eggman agreed.

"It would have to be somewhere isolated and far away," Bocoe, the silver robot, added.

"Yes, a place like that would be a good hiding spot, but it'd have to be somewhere he assumed would definitely be safe..." Then Eggman smiled when he realized. "Aha, of course, Angel Island. Very clever, Sonic, hide her with Knuckles the Guardian of the island where she'd be undetected...or so you thought."

* * *

The next day, after talking to Sonic and Tails, Knuckles looked for Aurora who went off somewhere leaving a note for him to find at the hut.

"The note said she's supposed to be here. So where is she?" Knuckles asked himself, looking around the supposed area.

"Hi, Knuckles!" Aurora called, making the echidna look up in the tree branches to see her.

"There you are. What are you doin' up in the tree?" he asked.

"Practicin' my climbin'," she answered. "Hey, watch this." Aurora grabbed a nearby vine and used it to swing towards another tree, lightly touching the trunk with her feet. "Been dyin' to try that," she told Knuckles.

"Seems to me that staying on this island has turned you into a jungle girl," Knuckles observed, grinning at her tree-climbing and vine-swinging success.

"Probably so," Aurora laughed, then started swinging off.

"Just be careful, okay?" Knuckles called as she left.

"Where's the fun in that, Knuckles?" Aurora called back, imitating Sonic.

"Oh, great, now you're talking just like that Blue Wonder," Knuckles groaned, "I'll have to thank him when I see him."

"I'm just kidding. I'll be careful," she reassured.

"Thank you."

And with that, Aurora was gone, leaving Knuckles who shook his head, but had a smile on his face. "I've gotta say, though, she's a pretty good kid," Knuckles commented, "An adaptable and smart one, too. She used to be someone who couldn't climb a tree or run very last or use herbs. Now she's turned into someone new. I guess being on Mobius has changed her."

"Man, I just love this," Aurora told herself as she kept swinging from vine to vine. "To think I was too scared to climb trees, now I'm swingin' from them." When Aurora rested on a branch, she suddenly saw something in the sky, flying straight for the island. She narrowed her eyes and what looked like to her were...robots. Then her eyes widened when she had a horrible realization: They were Eggman's robots!

"Knuckles, we've got trouble!" Aurora yelled, sliding down a vine to the ground. Knuckles heard her call and ran to her. "What's the matter? he asked.

"I see things coming our way and I think I know who sent them. Look." She pointed to the direction where she saw the unwanted visitors that were getting closer and closer

"Are those...?"

"Eggman's robots," Knuckles said with horror, then took Aurora's hand. "Come on!" He started leading her to safety, then took a look behind them to see one of the robots shooting a net at them.

"Hold on!" Knuckles told her, carrying her in his arms as the robots kept shooting more nets that missed the red-headed duo every time.

_What do we do? _Aurora asked herself. _These things might destroy Angel Island. _

Knuckles was at a bit of a distance from those flying robots, then a robot shot another net at them, making him leap high in the air. Aurora, even though flying with him would usually be fun, held on to him in terror. Then Knuckles made a landing in front of the Master Emerald's pedestal. He put her down and turned around into a fighting stance.

"You hide," he told her. "I'll hold them off."

"Knuckles, there are too many of them. They'll tear this whole island apart looking for me," Aurora protested, "You can't lose your home."

"I can defend Angel Island, the Master Emerald, and you. Now go on," he ordered firmly.

Instead of leaving the brave echidna, Aurora looked at the Master Emerald and had a thought. "No, I have a better idea. Come on." She took him by the hand and almost dragged him to the top of the stairs.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"The robots only care about me. If I'm gone, they'll have to leave the island."

"You're not saying you should turn yourself in?"

Aurora shook her head as they got in front of the large emerald. "No, I'm saying you should use the Master Emerald to send me away," she corrected.

"Aurora, no way," he disagreed, "I told you something might happen."

"Yes, 'might,' not definitely will," she pointed out, but he wasn't convinced. "We have to take a shot at this, Knuckles. Just focus the emerald's powers to send me far away from here. You guys can track me down with my wrist com that Tails gave me. It's either that or let Eggman's robots destroy your home. Either way, Eggman will capture me if you don't send me away."

Knuckles thought about it and then looked at the several big robots headed their way. He was always a strong fighter, but then he knew she was right. It was better to send Aurora someplace safer.

Sighing reluctantly, Knuckles said, "Okay, Aurora, we'll try it, but keep your communicator on you at all times and remember the herbs I taught you."

"I will," she promised.

"All right, get ready." With his hands raised above his hand, he chanted, "O Master Emerald, I ask that you send my friend Aurora somewhere far away from Angel Island where Eggman won't be able to find her. Send her someplace she'll be safe."

At his request, the Master Emerald glowed brighter than usual. So bright, that it made Aurora shield her eyes as the emerald flashed.

Knuckles, worn out a bit from using the emerald, panted and landed on his knees. He looked to see if Aurora was there and to his relief, the emerald did send her away. The robots came close to the pedestal now, but they looked around wondering where their human target was.

"You're too late," Knuckles told them gruffly, "She's long gone. You can tell Eggman that."

Knowing that there was no point searching the island now, the robots took back to the skies.

"Well, her plan worked," Knuckles remarked quietly he watched them go, "The robots left as soon as they knew she was gone. But...where did the Master Emerald send her to?"

* * *

Aurora, lying down on some grass, opened her eyes to find herself in a different forest and knew she wasn't on Angel Island anymore. She wondered where she was now or if she was still on Mobius.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" she called, but no one answered. She sighed as she got up, brushing the dust off her. "Looks like I'm alone. Well, if I'm alone, there aren't any enemies. Unfortunately, there aren't any friends, either. Hang on, I still have my com. If I just call Tails..."

When she turned the device on, it just made static noises. "Dang it, it's not comin' through." Groaning, she turned the thing off, "Great, now I really am alone. I'll just have to find a way out of this forest. That is, if the Master Emerald didn't send me off of Mobius."

And so, she sent off to wherever the forest would lead out of, hoping to find someone who could help her get back to her friends.

I just hope Knuckles is okay and that he's gone to tell Sonic and Tails what happened.

* * *

(Oh, she'll find someone to help her. Can you guys guess who it is? I'll give you a hint: It's a Mobian whose name starts with an 'S'. No, it's not Sonic. ; ) Is it on the tip of your tongues? Anyway, see ya on the next Chapter. God bless.)


	9. Introducing: Shadow the Hedgehog

**Chapter 9: Introducing: Shadow the Hedgehog**

Knuckles wasted no time when he came to Knothole to give Sonic and Tails the news about Aurora's fast get-away.

"What?" Tails responded when Knuckles finished his story.

"What do you mean you sent her away?" Sonic asked in dismay.

"I used the Master Emerald to take her far away from Angel Island," Knuckles answered his eyes cast down.

"Do you know where you sent her?" Tails asked.

"No, I don't," Knuckles shooh his head sadly.

"How can you not know?" Sonic demanded. "You were the one working the Emerald. You _should _know."

"Look, Sonic," Knuckles snapped, "I didn't want to send her away, either, but she insisted that it was the only way. She said here were too many of them for me to fight off at once and one of them would've captured her if I'd tried. That's when I knew she was right because she wasn't going to be safe no matter what if she'd stayed any longer."

Sonic looked down on the floor, feeling guilty for being mad at Knuckles because he did have a point. Sending her somewhere away from Eggman's robots was the best thing to do.

"Sorry," Sonic said softly.

Knuckles nodded in understanding.

"Does she still have her communicator on her?" Tails asked hopefully.

"Yes, she does," Knuckles answered, "I told her to keep it on at all times."

"Good, then we may be able to find her," Tails pronounced positively, "We just need to trace the signal from her wrist com. That is, if she's still on Mobius."

"I'm sure she is," Knuckles assured as Tails turned on his computer. "I asked the Master Emerald to take her far away from Angel Island, not from this planet."

Tails began to search for her signal, but then his optimistic expression turned into a disappointed frown. "No, no!" Tails cried.

"What's up, Tails?" Sonic asked very concerned.

"I can't find her signal," he answered fearfully. "I think the Master Emerald must've messed it up when it sent her away." Sonic and Knuckles looked at Tails's computer screen in dismay.

"Well, now what?" Knuckles asked loudly. "We have to find her before Eggman does."

Sonic stood still in thought for a minute, then went to the door. "Come on, guys, we're gonna start searching every part of Mobius," Sonic announced. "Eggman might not know where she is, either, but that won't stop him from looking for her which is why we've got to search high and low for her until she's back safe and sound."

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the forest Aurora was teleported to, she was walking past the trees, wondering where on this planet she should go. "Hang on, I can just climb the trees and get a better view, "she told herself.

She started climbing up the trees that were thinner and taller than the ones she was used to on Angel Island, but she managed to get to the top of the branches and had a good view of the woodlands and some mountains that weren't very far away along with a river, and from what Aurora could see straight ahead of that river was a path outside of the forest.

"Perfect, I'll just go up the stream of the river to the forest's exit and see where that road will lead."

After safely climbing down, she began her walk to the river and followed away from the water's flow. Along the way, she wondered what continent of Mobius she was at. Or even what planet.

_Well, Knux was workin' the thing himself and I'm sure the Master Emerald understood from his heart that he didn't want me off of Mobius, just away from his island home. Still, I wonder why this com's not workin' right. Maybe it's got somethin' to do with what the Master Emerald did to it before it brought me here._

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw something on the edge of the river's bed. It looked like...a Mobian!

She ran up to the poor creature that was lying face down on his stomach, soaking wet from the river. Aurora thought he must've fell in somehow and caught carried by the current. She gently rolled him on his back for her to see he was a hedgehog like Sonic, only he was black-and-red with a bit of white fur on his chest.

"Hey, are you all right?" she asked, shaking him a little, but no answer came from him.

She feared the worst until she put a hand on his white fur and felt his heart beating and his chest rising up and down. She sighed with relief. "He's unconscious, but at least he's still breathing. That's good, but I can't just leave him here." She decided to put a hold on her little journey and help this black-and-red hedgehog.

She carefully lifted him up and took him into the woods to find a dryer place to tend to him. When she found a good spot in a clearing, she gently placed the hedgehog against a tree and looked to see what injuries he might've had and found a nasty scratch on his right arm. "Remember what Knuckles said about infections..." Aurora mumbled to herself. "Ah, marigold." She went off to found the lovely flower and brought it back to Shadow, using it's juice to help stop any infections, which made him wince with pain.

"I know it stings," she told the out-cold Mobian, "but it's better than having any infection. Now we just need to bandage it." She tore up a long strip from her jacket and wrapped it around the hedgehog's arm.

Seeing the sun was setting, Aurora decided that now was a good time to find some firewood and turn in for the night and hopefully, her first patient would wake up by morning.

Before she left, she took off her jacket and laid it over him to keep him warm since he was wet. After that, she collected a good number of sticks just like she usually did with Knuckles and started a warm fire, then she started to feel sleepy. She decided to take a snooze, but she wrote a note in the dirt first so that the hedgehog would know who she was if he woke up before her.

"Hopefully, I'll get your name tomorrow," she said to him. "Good night, black-and-red hedgehog."

* * *

In the middle of the night, a bit after the moon was at its highest peak in the starry sky, the black-and-red hedgehog awoke to find himself in a clearing with a fire lit a few feet away from him. "Where am I?" he moaned as he got up, but then looked down to find a blue cloth on his body. "What am I doing with this jacket?" Then he found a strip from that same cloth that covered his scratched arm and looked to see words written on the ground next to him.

_"Dear Black-and-Red Hedgehog, if you're reading this, then I'm glad you're awake. I hope you're not in serious pain. I found you by the river with a scratch on your arm, so I fixed it up with a herb. You're welcome. I also hope that you'll stick around for us to talk to each other. Of course, I'm not forcing you or anything. I just need to know a few things about this forest. Plus, I'd like to get to know you if that's not too much to ask. P.S., My name's Aurora."_

The hedgehog looked around to see where this Aurora was and found her on the other side of the clearing across from him, sleeping soundly. He didn't know what to do. Just wake her up or just leave her there...? But from what he read about her needing to know a few things about the forest, he wondered if she was lost or something...

The hedgehog saw her shift a little from the cool breeze, then walked up to her and put the jacket over her, which she seemed grateful for even though she didn't know what was going on.

He sighed and sat back down against the tree with his arms folded, watching her as she slept. He wasn't sure if he could trust this girl...but she did help him by patching up his arm and kept him warm with her jacket.

Even though I've got my guard up,

he thought, _I do owe her a bit of gratitude for helping with my arm... _

Seeing his own wrist communicator, he realized he needed to call his friends to let them know what happened to him. He turned it on, but sadly, there was only a static sound. He groaned and turned the thing off, leaning his head back on the tree. "Great," he muttered then sighed, "I'll just wait until I get back go G.U.N. so they can fix it."

Looking at Aurora sleeping, it reminded him of his long lost best friend whom he'd watch over whenever she was sick in bed. He almost shed a tear from the memories, but fought it back. He couldn't let the pains from the past stop him from focusing on what was happening now, especially after what happened to him that gave him that injury on his arm and made him fall into the river in the first place...

* * *

As the sun rose to the pale blue sky, the light made Aurora's eyes squint. "Morning already?" she asked herself sleepily.

"Nice to see you're up," a deep voice spoke up, which made Aurora jump and turn to see her patient awake at last and leaning against a tree.

"Hey, you regained consciousness," she said happily. "How do you feel?"

"I'm just fine," he nodded, though his serious expression seemed to scare Aurora a little. "Although, I was confused when I found myself covered with a jacket and a bandage on my arm," he added.

"Well, there was a scratch so I had to mend it," she explained.

"I know, I read your note," he replied.

"Oh, good, then you already know my name's Aurora. May I ask for yours?" she asked.

He looked at her, as if he was wondering if it was a good idea to tell her or not. Aurora recognized this kind of unsure look before from Knuckles when she first met him and gave him the same unflinching stare of reassurance, hoping to show him she was harmless.

He seemed to understand from what she was trying to say to him with her bluish-green eyes...which made him remember two girls, one blonde and one brunette, who used to give him those friendly, kind faces before...things happened. He knew that he could trust her...just a little.

"Shadow the Hedgehog," he answered at last.

Smiling that she'd gained his trust, Aurora stuck out her hand and said, "Nice to meet you, Shadow."

Shadow stared at her hand, then at Aurora, whose expression remained the same, then he shook her hand. "The pleasure's all mine."

Happy to make his acquaintance, she asked, "So, Shadow, may I ask how you ended up in the river?"

Shadow was silent for a moment and Aurora felt afraid seeing his grimly expression again.

"Sorry," he answered, his eyes closed, "but I can't share that with you."

Aurora wondered why, but decided not to pry. Some things in life are private. "Well, I understand."

"Do you?" he queried, looking at her with piercing red eyes.

_Whoa, this hedgehog...he doesn't seem anywhere near as friendly as Sonic. _But she wasn't going let fear make her look bad. "If it's a secret, I'll respect it," she vowed.

Shadow just stared at her as if he was wondering if she was really willing to respect his privacy.

_Boy, how awkward is this?_ Aurora asked herself in thought.

"What about you?" he asked her, "Your note said you had questions to ask me about this place. Are you lost?"

"Yes, actually," she answered shyly. Now Aurora was a little worried about asking him anything seeing how just a bit tense he can be.

"How did that happen?"

"Oh, well, it's a long story. You see, this mad man named Eggman is after me. My friends Sonic and Tails brought me to Angel Island to stay with Knuckles the Guardian until they could find out what Eggman wants with me. I was over there for nearly a week until Eggman sent his robots after me. Knuckles told me to run, but I'd suggested he used the Master Emerald to send me far away so the robots would leave his island alone. He said it was risky, but I asked him to do it, anyway, because...I didn't want him to lose his home because of me.

"The next thing, the Emerald made a flash at Knuckles's request to send me somewhere I'd be safe and I found myself in the middle of this forest. I was gonna leave until I found you and you know the rest."

When she had finished her story, Shadow looked kind of surprised and looked down in thought. Aurora wondered if this was true to him so she asked, "Do you believe me or...?"

"I believe you," Shadow answered, "and I know your friends."

"You do?" Aurora asked, shocked to hear he'd heard of Sonic and the others. "Do you know Eggman, too?"

"I sure do. He's not exactly my personal favorite either," he answered thoughtfully, making Aurora wonder what kind of bad encounters did he have with the mad doctor, but Aurora wasn't sure if he'd answer her questions if she'd asked, so she let it go. Then she saw on his wrist that he had a com like she did. "Hey, you got a communicator, too?" she asked.

"Yes, but it doesn't work. What about yours?"

"Doesn't work, either. Tails gave it to me, but the Master Emerald did something to it and I can't call my friends. Do you suppose you know a place where there's a town so someone can fix both of our communicators?"

"I know a place...and I'm going to help you," he announced.

"Really?" she asked in amazement.

"Yes," he replied simply, "since you helped me even though you don't know me."

"Well, maybe the Master Emerald thought I'd be needed here to assist you," Aurora suggested.

"That's a possibility or it was just a mere coincidence," Shadow added, "but you helped me all the same, and I think I should help you, especially if Eggman's involved."

"Thank you, Shadow," Aurora said with a smile that made Shadow think about the two girls who showed him that kind of grateful look.

Shadow mentally shook that thought away and said, "Don't thank me yet. We still have to leave this forest."

"I know a way out," Aurora declared, pointing behind Shadow, "I saw an open field with a road over there when I climbed the trees. Come on." As Aurora started leading the way, her stomach began to growl, making her stop and her eyes wide.

Shadow grinned, suggested gently, "Perhaps we should have breakfast before we go."

Aurora blushed with embarrassment and quickly said, "Yes, perhaps we should." Aurora wondered why her stomach would embarrass her around hedgehogs. _Oh, well, better Sonic and Shadow than anyone else, I guess. _

Aurora looked up to a tree with apples and pronounced, "Hold on, I'll go get us some fruit."

Shadow didn't know why, but he felt uneasy as he watched her climb the tall tree and carefully walked on the branch to get the apples.

"Heads up, Shadow!" she called, before dropping an apple at the black-and-red hedgehog who easily caught it in his hands. "Nice catch," she commented, "Here comes another one." She dropped the second apple which was caught in Shadow's free hand. "There, one for you and one for me. Now I'm comin' down."

She carefully walked back to the trunk, but to her shock, her branch broke and she ended up falling down.

Shadow, who dropped the apples, quickly dashed under Aurora and safely caught her in his arms.

Aurora shook in fear for a second, then opened her eyes to see a concerned Shadow looking over her. "Are you all right?" he asked, his voice filled with worry much to Aurora's surprise.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you," she nodded gratefully.

"You should be more careful where you put your feet when you walk on a branch," he told her, as if he was lecturing his own child.

"I'll make a mental note on that," she replied as she got up and offered an apple to him. "Shall we feast?"

Not knowing what else to say, Shadow took his apple and as they eat their small meal, Aurora couldn't help but be more and more curious about this hedgehog.

_He's sure quiet. Hmph, well, I've always been taciturn myself. Maybe he's just being cautious since I'm still a stranger to him. Hang on, didn't I wake up with my jacket on me a while ago? ...So, he put it back on me while I was still sleeping._

From what Aurora had already learned from Shadow, even though he made her a bit nervous, he seemed a bit caring since he, not only gave her jacket back to her to keep her warm, but also saved her from a bad fall.

"So..." Shadow said suddenly, scaring Aurora out of her thoughts, "...you know Sonic?"

"Oh, yes," she nodded.

"How'd you meet him?"

Aurora hesitated for a moment. She knew that there was a good side to Shadow, but...she felt a little doubtful about revealing her origins to him, so she decided to mixed things up. "It's a little complicated. Let's just say I ended up by myself around Knothole, Sonic found me and brought me to meet his friends." Then Aurora explained how she was staying with Amy and spending time with Sonic and the gang for a while until Eggman found her with Sonic at a meadow and tried to take her by force until Sonic saved her and had Tails fly them to Angel Island to stay with Knuckles.

"He was a little uneasy about having a stranger on his island," Aurora stated, "but when I promised him I'd help him around the place and follow the rules, he said I was welcome, especially since Eggma's lookin' for me."

Shadow nodded as she explained her stay with the Guardian who showed her his home and taught her things like climbing and using herbs, which helped Shadow understand how she was able to fixed his scratched arm. She also said that after five days of staying on Angel Island, Sonic and Tails had finally called Aurora to see how she was doing and give her the bad news of Eggman's unknown location.

"A few days after that, I spotted Eggman's robots coming to the island. We ran to the Master Emerald's pedestal, and, well, you know the rest of the story."

"So you asked Knuckles to send you away because you didn't want him to lose his home?" Shadow asked.

She nodded sadly, which made Shadow curious as she said, "I know what it's like to lose a home...or be taken away from a home, so..." Then her sad look turned into a smile when she looked at him and added, "But I think it's good that I'm here. I mean, I may not know for sure if the Master Emerald sent me her so I could help you, but at least it benefited you."

"I suppose so," Shadow replied, though he was lost in thought after hearing everything she said.  
Aurora was shy to ask for a second, then said, "So, Shadow, please tell me, how do you know Sonic and the others?"

Shadow didn't answer. He just closed his eyes as his response.

"I guess that's something you'd rather not discuss," Aurora figured.

"No, it's not," he answered straightforwardly.

Aurora wondered if he and Sonic don't get along very well, but she decided to leave it alone and just said, "I understand."

After finishing their breakfast, they began their walk out to the forest and found the path Aurora saw yesterday.

"Looks like your climbing skills were useful," Shadow complimented.

Aurora smiled, happy that she'd impressed the black-and-red hedgehog. "Well, thank you for sayin' so. Say, are you a fast runner like Sonic?"

"I might be," Shadow answered with a small grin. "In fact..."

The next thing she knew, Aurora found herself being lifted in Shadow's arms.

"...let's both see for ourselves," Shadow declared, running faster than the speed of thought, making Aurora hold on to him in fear. _No matter where I go, I'll still end up goin' on a scary jog with a hedgehog._


	10. Fires & Nightmares

**Chapter 10: Fires & Nightmares**

During the run, Aurora didn't like this anymore than she liked Sonic's speed. To point out, Aurora started to notice how different Shadow's movement was compared to Sonic's. She looked over his shoulder and saw that his feet were...sliding on the ground. As if he was skating instead of jogging.

_Does he have rollerblades in his shoes?_ Aurora wondered, tilting her head.

"Are you guessing what's making me move like this?" Shadow asked, noticing her puzzled look.

"Well, yes..." she confessed, still looking at this feet, "and I think it's your shoes, am I correct? I mean, I've had Sonic carried me at a fast pace, but he picks up his feet when he runs. But you look like you're rollerblading."

Shadow grinned at her astute observance. "Very clever. Yes, it is my rollerblades."

Aurora smirked with a little bit of triumph, then added, "But both of your speeds seem to match just fine."

"Yes..." Shadow replied, his grin turning into a doubtful look, "but we both have our differences."

"So you say," she remarked, not helping but agreeing with him. His personality wasn't all that friendly and cheerful as Sonic's, but even though she was unsure about telling him where she was from, she couldn't help but sense something good in him...as well as a painful time he went through.

Her thoughts then turned to the empty road they trekked. _Man, we haven't seen civilization in a while. I'm just glad his legs aren't injured or we'd be out here for days._

Suddenly, Aurora saw a little town ahead of them, then closed her eyes as Shadow halted in a town square. "We're here," he told her.

She opened her eyes to see the lovely looking place that had a lot of flowers on the trees and the fountain that was in the middle of the square. "Wow..." Aurora whispered in awe, then asked him, "What is this place?"

"It's called Roca," Shadow explained, "I've been here before. It's a small town and most of the people are harmless." After he put her down, he motioned his head to the other side of the fountain. "Come on."

While she was following Shadow, Aurora asked, "So, if you know this town, is there someone who can fix our coms?"

"Afraid not," Shadow declined, "The technicians here aren't familiar with the kind of technology we have in our communicators."

Aurora sighed at that. "Well, at least they have phones... Unfortunately, I don't know any of my friends' phone numbers." She covered her face as she muttered, "If I'd written their numbers down..."

"That's all right," he reassured, "I know someone we can contact. You stay right here and I'll go make a call."

"Okay," Aurora replied, staying a few feet away from the fountain when Shadow walked towards a phone booth.

Shadow dialed the number on the pay phone and listened to the ringing for a few seconds until a robotic voiced on the other line said, "This is Omega-E123."

"Omega, it's Shadow."

"Shadow?" Omega repeated, surprised to hear from him, "You have been missing for a while. G.U.N. has lost your signal and Rouge is very worried."

"I'm sorry, Omega," Shadow apologized, "but things got...complicated."

"Where is your location?" Omega asked.

"I'm at Roca right now, but wait, before you do anything, I want you to find Rouge and ask her to do me a favor."

"And what is your request for Rouge?"

"I need you to ask her if she can find Eggman and get any intel."

"Eggman?" Omega asked at the mention of that name, "Why do you want her to spy on Eggman?"

"I met a human girl who found me and helped me," Shadow explained, "She told me she met Sonic and his friends in Knothole, but Eggman's after her for some reason. And when Sonic sent her to stay with Knuckles on Angel Island, Eggman's robots found her and she asked Knuckles to use the Master Emerald to send her away. She came into a forest where she found me by a river. I agreed to help her and I need you and Rouge."

"If this unit has helped you, Shadow, then she is a friend to me," Omega averred, "I will be glad to help you assist her. I will inform Rouge and tell her your request."

"Thanks, Omega," Shadow nodded, always grateful for his robotic alley's help. "The girl's name is Aurora and she..."

While Shadow was explaining everything else to Omega over the phone, Aurora sat outside watching him in the phone booth.

_I wonder whom he's talkin' to._

"Well, well, well, looky here," said a male's voice from behind her.

Aurora jumped a little, and turned to see a tall boy with brown hair and eyes. "I've never seen you before," he remarked, his chin in his hand as he looked at her.

"Oh, I'm new in town," Aurora answered, not giving many details. "I'm a traveler."

"A traveler, huh?" he asked, leaning on Aurora's side with an arm wrapped around her. "What have you been travelin' for?"

Aurora was creeped out at his sudden move, but casually said, "Oh, having adventures and discovering new things."

"Well, if you want to have adventures and discover new things, I'm available," he drawled.

_Yeah, I just discovered a new subspecies of monkey. _"That's nice of you to say, but I'm not interested, thank you," she declined, starting to walk away, but he held her hand.

"Come on, girl, let's go find excitement together," he insisted.

"I said, 'no, thank you," she repeated firmly, "I'm waiting for a friend and I don't think he'll like me goin' anywhere with..."

"Well, perhaps I can tell him he can wait longer," he persuaded, pulling her closer.

"Then why don't you tell him right now?" Shadow dared who had come back just on time. When the boy saw him, he recognized him instantly and stared at him in fear when Shadow gave him a really mean glare.

"You're her friend?" he asked, his grip loosening on her hand.

"That's right and I would appreciate it if you would let her go and move on, unless you have a problem with that," Shadow challenged, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, no, no problem at all," the boy said quickly, letting go of her hand and said to Aurora, "Sorry for uh, bugging you."

As he walked away, Aurora whispered, "I'm sure you are," then turned to Shadow, "I assure you, he came onto me."

"I noticed," Shadow said, understanding what was going on, then gave a smirk, "but I don't think he'll come onto you anymore."

"No complaints here," she replied sincerely, "So, whom were you talking to?"

"A friend of mine named Omega. He's a robot, but he's much more than that," Shadow explained, not wanting Aurora to think of him as some kind of item instead of a person.

"I'm sure he is," Aurora agreed, understanding his friendship with this Omega.

Shadow nodded gratefully for believing that and continued, "Anyway, I told him the situation and asked him to tell another friends of our named Rouge the Bat to sneak into Eggman's base, if she can find it, and look for any information about why he wants you. Believe me, she's capable."

"I know, Knuckles told me some things about her..." Aurora recalled, "...and not all of them are the things he likes."

"Well, he and Rouge have a history together," Shadow grinned.

"So I've learned." Aurora had heard Knuckles about his encounters with the female bat who would often play double-agent to get jewels and often push his buttons, but from the other things Aurora heard, she and Knuckles knew that she wasn't all that bad. She seemed to care a little bit about others, though, she seemed too proud to admit it. Plus, it seemed to Aurora that Knuckles liked the bat a bit, but of course Aurora knew better than to say that to him. "So what do we do in the meantime?"

"I'm gonna take you to a place where Omega will pick you up and take you to G.U.N. H.Q. You should be safe there...as long as Eggman doesn't figure out you're there."

"Wait a minute, what will you do when Omega comes for me?"

"I've got business to do elsewhere, but my primary objective right now is making sure you're safe."

Aurora was taken aback. She'd just met this hedgehog yet he was going through all this to keep her safe... Then again, when she'd met Sonic, he was more than willing to help her find out what brought her to Mobius... Aurora couldn't help smiling in deep gratitude.

Before they said anything else, Shadow and Aurora heard a woman crying, "Help! Somebody help! There's a fire!"

They looked to see her with singed clothes pointing at a smoke coming from behind buildings. Concerned, they both ran to where the situation was at and found a three-story building covered in orange-yellow flames.

"Oh, no," Aurora whispered fearfully, "Shadow, what do we do? There might be people inside."

"I'll go look," Shadow said, dashing into the building to look for whomever might've been trapped in the blazing building.  
"Oh, please, help him get them out," Aurora prayed. To her amazement, she saw him leading a man and a woman out of the door.

"Thank you, Shadow," the man said.

"We're really grateful," the woman added.

Shadow nodded. "You two, get to safety." Then he dashed back into the building and came back with an elderly woman. "Here you go, ma'am."

"Thank you very much," she coughed gratefully.

"I've got her, Shadow," Aurora said, taking the old woman's hands.

"I think that's everyone," Shadow assumed. "I'm gonna find some water to put out this fire." He dashed away from the building. Just as the couple Shadow saved a minute ago helped Aurora with the old lady, she heard a someone in the building crying. A little boy's cry.

"Shadow! Shadow!" Aurora called, "There's a child in there! Shadow!" But there was no response. "Oh, I've gotta do somethin'!" So, with a deep breath, she made her way into the building, feeling very hot since she was wearing her blue jacket which she used to cover her mouth from the smoke. "Hello?" she called out.

"Help! Somebody, please!" the boy screamed.

"Keep talking to me," she told him, "I'll come find you."

Then Shadow came back with several barrels of water from the fountain. "I've got the water..." But he looked to see Aurora was nowhere in sight. "Aurora, where are you?"

"Are you talking about a girl with long red hair?" the man Shadow rescued asked.

"Yes, do you know where she went?"

"She ran into the building," he answered, pointing at the flame-covered motel.

"What?!" Shadow shouted, half angry and half worried, "Why on Mobius would she do that?"

Just then, Shadow heard footsteps from that building and saw Aurora coming out with her hood on her head and her arms holding onto her jacket.

"Aurora, what in the world were you thinking running into that building?" he demanded.

"I had to get this kid," she answered, showing him the little boy shaking with fear inside her jacket. "I called for you, but you didn't answer. I had to save him, Shadow."

Shadow looked at the boy who was whimpering and clutching onto Aurora, not believing what a risk she took to get him out safely.

He touched her arm saying, "Good work, Aurora." She smiled at his praise. "Stand aside, I'm gonna douse the flames." For what seemed like ten seconds, Shadow took about each maybe 15 barrels of water and ran around to spill it all over the building. Finally, the fire was put out and the people cheered.

"Way to go, Shadow!" Aurora called as the hedgehog came back to her and nodded at her compliment.

"Mommy, Daddy!" the boy from Aurora's arms yelped when he saw his parents coming to the building. Aurora put the kid down and watched with satisfaction as he was safe in his family's arms who were happy to see their son safe and sound.

"You risked your life for that boy," Shadow commented, looking at the joyful family with her.

"Well, yeah," she shrugged. "What else was I supposed to do? I would've waited for you...but I just didn't want anything bad to happen."

"I understand. Besides..." he added, grinning at the boy with his parents, "...you made his parents very happy."

"Yeah..." she replied, "...I guess I did."

Just then, an elderly man with a mayor's sash came towards them with his arms open happily. "Oh, thank you. Thank you, Shadow," he told the hedgehog, shaking his hand, "You and your friend helped those people get out unharmed and put out the fire. As a token of our gratitude, I'm offering you a stay at one of our inns for the night.

"Your hospitality is gracious, sir," Shadow dipped his head politely, "but I'm afraid we can't spend the night here. We have to be going."

"Oh, I hope you're not talking about the bridge to leave Roca. You see, the bridge is broken," the mayor informed, "I'm afraid it'll take a day to repair. It won't take very long, I assure you."

"Isn't there a way around the bridge?" Shadow insisted, not wanting to stay any longer.

"I'm sorry, no, there isn't," he apologized sincerely.

Shadow sighed with his hand on his face.

"We could stay just for the night," Aurora comforted, "As long as the bridge's fixed by tomorrow."

Shadow thought for a moment and said, "All right, we'll stay for the night."

"Excellent," the satisfied mayor replied, "We'll have a room for the two of you."

* * *

They came to their motel room, where the beds were huge and had a lovely bathroom and a big window to overlook the town.

"Well, this is nice," Aurora commented, laying down on the mattress. "Feels good. What do you think, Shadow?"

"It'd be nicer if we could leave now," he remarked, his arms folded.

"I know, but the bridge won't be fixed until tomorrow," she reasoned, "We'll just have to wait, considering there's no other way to leave."

Shadow sighed, knowing she was right. "Come on," he said, motioning his head to the door.

"Where're we goin'?" she asked as she followed him out the door.

"If we're going to stay here for a day, we might as well collect some supplies."

* * *

From that midmorning to late afternoon, they looked from wilderness stores to a pharmacy in case they needed stuff to camp out with and tend wounds to if necessary. As they walked their way back to their motel room, Aurora started to make a conversation.

"That was nice, wasn't it? I mean, all these people offered their stuff for free after what we did at that fire."

But Shadow was silent as usual. Aurora wondered what was bothering him. Then she remembered it was because he was ticked off that they couldn't leave right now.

Suddenly, Shadow came to a stop and Aurora asked, "What's the matter, Shadow?"

"...I'm sorry that I yelled at you earlier. I was just afraid what would've happened if you'd stayed in that building too long."

Aurora understood. They had just met and Aurora guessed she'd be very upset, too, if anything had happened to her new friend. "It's okay, you were just concerned. What's important is that no one got hurt."

Shadow smiled, liking how easily forgiving and positive she was. "Come on, let's keep get back."

* * *

Once they got back, they put down their bags on their beds. "Today was a success," Aurora pronounced, "We've found two backpacks, two canisters, some canned food, and sleepings bags. Plus, this first-aid kit, in case we need bandages."

"Thankfully, you know how to use herbs, too," Shadow added.

"Well, I have Knuckles to thank for that," Aurora remarked, missing the red echidna.

"Now that we have everything we need, come with me."

"Where we goin' now?" Aurora asked as they headed out again.

"To the rooftop," he replied, "You'll see why in a minute."

Aurora wondered what he wanted to do on the roof, but kept quiet and obediently followed him until they climbed up the stairs to the cool night air with the city lights surrounding them below.

"Good, there's enough space," Shadow grinned, his hands on his hips.

"Enough space for what?"

"I'm going to teach you how to defend yourself," Shadow answered, turning to her. "That way, you won't be helpless if you ever have enemies."

Aurora thought about it and she thought it would be a really good idea. Since there was a maniac after her, she knew self-defense lessons would do her some good in the future.

"Ready?" Shadow asked her, making a fighting pose.

Aurora nodded, copying his pose. "Ready."

* * *

For maybe an hour in a half, Shadow came at Aurora from everywhere. Of course, Aurora knew he was fast, but she had to make good comebacks and dodges as he kept making blows and kicks.

Aurora had never learned how to fight before, but she needed these lessons, so she kept up the heat long enough until Shadow announced, "All right, we're done for tonight."

Aurora nodded respectfully and panted hard. "Well, that's my exercise for the day," she breathed.

Shadow grinned. He had to admit, she wasn't half bad. She was completely new to all of it, but she was doing well, so far. And he was glad she didn't whine or complain the whole time.

"Believe me, you'll appreciate it later," he affirmed.

"I'm sure I will," she replied, then to her embarrassment once again, her stomach growled.

"I guess you'll appreciate some food, too," Shadow remarked, somewhat teasingly.

Aurora just blushed and looked away.

Shadow grinned, patting her shoulder in reassurance. "You go back to the hotel room. I'll go find us something to eat."

"All right," she said, getting up and following him to the rooftop door.

"And whatever you do," he added, looking at her with a stern look, "do not leave the room until I come back."

"I won't step a foot outside 'til your return," she promised.

Shadow nodded. "Good."

* * *

While Aurora was waiting for Shadow, she thought about what he was like so far during the past few hours.

_Well, he wasn't kidding when he said he and Sonic have their differences. I mean, Sonic's the fun-lovin' jokester. Shadow, however, seemed like the dead serious, strong silent-type. Of course, he's still well-meaning and caring, like Sonic is._

Frankly, Aurora couldn't help but think Shadow reminded her of a lion. His fur did look somewhat of a lion's mane. And he seemed brave and strong like one, too.

_Still, I wonder what his history is with Sonic and the others. Maybe I could ask Sonic when I see him._

Then she thought about Knuckles again. She hoped he was okay and that the robots left his island as soon as they knew she was gone. She brought her knees up to her and hugged them, missing her friends from Knothole and the Guardian of Angel Island. Sonic's cheerful care-free attitude; Amy's passion for Sonic, but caring nature for others; Cream and Cheese's sweet behavior; Tails's polite and intelligent demeanor, and Knuckles's strong good-hearted personality. They'd all made her feel so at home ever since she met them and they all taught her things she never knew back on Earth.

Suddenly, the inn door opened and she turned to see Shadow with a bag of food in his hand.

"Welcome back," she greeted, "That was sooner than expected."

"Don't forget, my speed is just like Sonic's, remember?" he grinned.

"That's true," she smiled. After they ate their dinner, Aurora took a quick shower while Shadow looked out the window.

He was going through a lot for this girl. First he offered to help her hide from Eggman, then he'd just given her self-defense lessons. He was involving himself into her crisis completely, but he didn't seem to mind it at all. He didn't like leaving someone when they needed help the most. Of course, this wasn't the first time he'd done this sort of thing for a human girl. Shadow grinned as he thought about how Aurora reminded him of those two girls in his past.

As Aurora came out of the bathroom to turn in for the night, she looked at Shadow whose reflection in the window revealed a thoughtful expression. "Shadow?"

"Hmm? Oh, I'll sleep in a few minutes," he told her, "I've got a lot on my mind. You can go ahead and turn off the lights."

"Okay." Aurora turned off the lights and got into her own bed, looking at Shadow staring out the window. This hedgehog had more mysterious than any other Mobian she knew. Of course, she hasn't known many Mobians yet, but still. "Night, Shadow."

"Good night."

* * *

In the middle of the night, Aurora dreamt that she was running for her life in a place she didn't know. She panted as she ran, not looking back to see the robots chasing after her with Dr. Eggman in pursuit, as well.

_"No, I'm not going with you! You won't use me for anything!" _she exclaimed as she ran. She turned and stopped to see she was at a dead end. She turned around to see the giant robots and leaned back against the wall, never feeling so terrified. Then one of them shot a net at her, and started dragging her away.

_"No! Let me go! Someone, help me!"_

As she tossed and turned some more, she felt someone shaking her shoulder.

"Aurora, wake up," a familiar deep voice told her.

Aurora gasped and bolted up straight in her bed and looked around, wondering where she was now. Then she turned to see Shadow and remembered she was in a motel room. She sighed with relief, thankful it was just a dream.

"Are you all right?" Shadow asked worriedly.

"Yes," she breathed, "Just had a nightmare. I'll be fine." However, she shook from that nightmare, which concerned Shadow. "...Let's go back to sleep. Sorry for waking you up."

Before Aurora got back under the covers, Shadow laid his hand on her arm. "You can tell me what it was about," he consoled softly.

Aurora looked down on her lap, not sure if she wanted to talk about it, but Shadow rubbed her arm, urging her to tell him.

"I was running away from Eggman," she explained, her voice sounding cracked, "He found me and sent his robots to chase me. I tried to get away, but then his robots cornered me and dragged me away. That was it."

Shadow didn't know what to say at first. He just looked at her, sorry that she had such a scary nightmare.

Aurora trembled, hugging her arms. "It was horrible," she whispered. "I was so terrified."

"It's all right now," Shadow reassured. "It wasn't real and it won't be real." But Aurora didn't respond until Shadow held her hand that made her look at him in the eyes that usually looked hard and intimidating now seemed a bit...gentle and protective. "Aurora, as long as I'm still breathing, I promise to keep you safe from Eggman."

Aurora looked at him, surprised to hear such a serious tone even from him. She blinked for a second, then grinned and gripped his hand in gratitude. "Thank you, Shadow."

Shadow grinned back and nodded. "Now go back to sleep," he told her nicely, as if he was comforting his own child after having a nightmare.

She nodded back and laid back down with Shadow bringing the covers back to her shoulders. Aurora had to say, she really liked Shadow. His promise reminded him so much of Sonic's promise to help her get home. She knew she could be safe around him and that he would keep his promise just as she knew Sonic would.

When Shadow went back into his own bed, he remembered when his best friend used to have nightmares and that he would rush to her and make her feel better until she slept soundly again. He also thought about his other friend whom he'd lost as well, when he told her he'd always be there for her...before she ended up lost in the stars...just like his first friend.

Shadow squeezed his hands together, his chest tightening. He kept blaming himself over and over again for not saving them when they had saved him. But this time, with Aurora, it was going to be different. He was going to make sure to keep his promise and never let her fall into Eggman's hands no matter what.


	11. A Painful Trip Literally

**Chapter 11: A Painful Trip...Literally**

The next morning, the slumbering town of Roca started to stir when the dawn crept into the sky. At one of the inns, Aurora felt someone shaking her shoulder.

"Hmm?" she moaned, cracking her eyes open to see Shadow overlooking her.

"Wake up, it's time to get around," he told her.

So soon?

she asked silently as she yawned.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked. Knowing he meant if she had any more nightmares last night, she said, "I slept well, thank you."

"That's good," he nodded, glad to hear she was feeling better.

After Aurora cleaned herself up and got dressed, Shadow led her to a small diner to have some breakfast before making their way to the bridge which the mayor said was supposed to be fixed by now.

Done with her breakfast, Aurora looked out the window into the clear blue sky, spacing out.

"Are you all right?" Shadow asked, noticing her staring out the window.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just lost in thought," she replied, keeping her eyes in the sky.

Shadow thought that maybe she was thinking about her nightmare until she asked him, "Shadow, is Omega good at fixin' things?"

Shadow nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"I was hoping he'd be able to fix my communicator," she explained, showing the com on her wrist, "Because I'm worried about Sonic and the others. I know they're hard core survivors, but they've become good friends of mine and I just want to make sure they're all right."

Shadow gave her a reassuring grin, saying, "They're fine, believe me, I know."

Aurora looked at him and wondered just how well does he know the others. Of course, she knew she couldn't get the answers from him, so she decided to wait until she saw Sonic again.

"Come on, we'd better get going," he announced, getting up from his seat, leading the way to the bridge.

* * *

At the bridge, the mayor and several other citizens were waiting for them and to see them off.

"Oh, there you two are," the mayor called, waving to them, "The bridge is fixed and ready to let visitors come and go."

Shadow dipped his head in gratitude for the mayor and his citizens' hospitality and that the bridge was fixed on time. "We thank you again for all you've done for us."

"We're really grateful," Aurora added.

"No, it is we who are grateful to you two," the mayor stated, "If you hadn't come on time to save those people and put out the fire, there would've been great grieving."

"We were more than willing to help," Shadow replied.

"Besides, if anyone deserves most of the credit, it's Shadow," Aurora put in, touching his shoulder. "He was the one who put out that fire and got all those people out."

Shadow grinned, humbled at her sharing the glory. "You helped someone, too, you know," he pointed out, "That little boy. You were the one who heard him and saved him on time."

Aurora smirked bashfully, putting her hand on the back of her head. "Yeah, well..."

Speaking of the little boy, Aurora turned to see the blonde child hugging her leg. "Hey, I didn't think I'd see you here," Aurora said, bending down to ruffle his head. She looked up to see a blonde-haired man whom Aurora knew was the boy's father since she'd seen him and his dark-haired mother yesterday.

"We heard that you and Shadow were coming to the bridge this morning," the father explained.

"And we wanted to come and say good-bye and thank you for saving our little boy," the mother finished.

"I was happy I could help," Aurora said.

"Do you have to go?" the boy asked sadly. "I wanted to get to know you."

"I'm sorry, little fella, but I have to go," she apologized, "I've got people who are worried about me and I have to make sure they're okay. But I hope someday, I can come back and visit."

The boy smiled and hugged Aurora who hugged back with Shadow grinning at them.

Bidding farewell to the citizens who waved at them and wished them good luck, the duo finally started on their journey to G.U.N. H.Q.

"They seem like nice people," Aurora remarked when they were ways away.

"Yes, they are," Shadow agreed. "...It's always nice to meet people like that."

Aurora looked at him when he said that as if...as if he knew a lot of bad people in the past. She wondered just what kind of people did he deal with in his life. Were they so bad that they made him so unfriendly and distrusting? Then again...she understood that feeling herself.

Shaking the thought away, she asked, "So, Shadow, where exactly are we supposed to meet Omega?"

"At a town 100 miles from here."

"Boy, that's a long distance," Aurora commented.

"Yes, but it won't be a long walk," Shadow pronounced, lifting Aurora in his arms. "Hold on."

Shadow zoomed on the path with Aurora clinging onto his shoulders.

"No matter how many times I do this with you or Sonic, I'll never get used to it," Aurora averred which made Shadow grin.

Miles away from them, there was a mysterious man wrapped in a dark cloak, who hid behind a rock. He knew the hedgehog would be coming on this path soon. He and his employer had been waiting for him since yesterday and his boss put him in charge of making sure he'd _fall_ into this trap.

He looked over his rock and saw the black-and-red hedgehog coming with...someone in his arms, but it didn't concern him. When Shadow stepped on the path where the trap was set, he and Aurora fell down in a ditch, dust flying in the air. The cloaked man smirked, and wiped his hands in a pleasing manner and disappeared from the spot, leaving smoke behind.

Aurora groaned underneath the dirt and rocks and dug herself out. Wiping the dust off her, she looked to see where Shadow was. "Shadow?" she called. No answer. Aurora was starting to panic. "Shadow!" she shouted. To her relief, the response was a grunt that was close by and she saw the hedgehog popping out of the turned ground. She walked over to him, getting most of the dirt out of his hair.  
"Are you all right?" Shadow asked her.

"I'm fine. You?"

"I'm all right," he answered, starting to move, then bent down and grunted with pain.

"Somehow, I don't think so," she implied. "I think your leg is hurt. Here, please, let me look at it and hold still. I need to squeeze it a little. She gently gripped his left leg which made him wince.

"Well, it's not broken," she deduced, "but I think it's twisted. Sit down for a minute."

He obeyed as she pulled the first-aid kit out of her backpack. She took a bandage and wrapped it around his leg carefully. "That should do it, but I'm afraid you won't be able to walk or run."

"Great," Shadow grumbled sarcastically, "Just what we need."

Aurora looked around the hole wondering about how it got here. "Shadow, have you taken this route to Roca before?" she asked.

Shadow thought about her question and he seemed to understand why she was asking. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did."

"So this hole wasn't here before?" she asked suspiciously.

"No, it wasn't. Otherwise, I definitely would've remembered."

"Then that means..."

"Someone dug this giant hole on purpose," Shadow finished.

"But who?"

"I don't know," he answered. Then he realized that he did know who.

"Come on, let's try to get out of here," Aurora said.

Shadow was still for a moment. He knew who dug this hole, but he didn't know how to tell Aurora...

Aurora looked at the hole and found a good place to climb on the other side of the ditch that led to the path the they were taking. "I can climb, but I don't think you can with that leg," she pronounced, then bent down in front of him. "Here, get on my back. You're light enough for me to carry."

Shadow nodded, putting her backpack on his backpack to make it easier for both of them and gripped her shoulders.

Putting his arms under his legs, she stood up and walked towards the wall she wanted to climb and pulled themselves out of the hole. "That wasn't so hard," she stated.

Shadow got off her and looked at the hole wondering if the people whom he knew dug it were still around. To his confusion, he didn't see them anywhere. He thought maybe they'd left already. He hoped they did that. He didn't want to put Aurora in harm's way in case they were around.

"What is it?" Aurora asked, noticing his concerned look.

"Nothing," Shadow lied quietly. "Come on, let's get moving." He started to walk, but bent down wincing and holding his leg.

"Shadow, you can't walk, remember?" she reminded him. "Let me carry you again. I'll walk us the rest of the way."

"Aurora, you don't move as fast as I do," Shadow objected.

"I know, but we don't have a choice," she told him gently.

Shadow didn't like the idea of walking. It would take too long and he really wanted to get to Omega and leave Aurora in his care as soon as possible. However, he knew she was right. He couldn't run and Aurora was the only one who'd have to do the carrying.

Sighing in defeat, he said, "Very well," and gripped her shoulders when she bent down.

As Aurora started walking, she asked, "Exactly, how many miles have we gone until this?"

"50."

"So we've got another 50 miles," Aurora announced unenthused. "Wonderful. Well, we're just gonna have to pick up the pace." She started to walk fast, keeping a wounded Shadow close to her. Shadow hoped her legs were good enough to walk such a long distance...and he really hoped they wouldn't run into those dangerous enemies of his.

* * *

Far away, at a warehouse in a dark woodlands that were severely burned up from a fire long ago, the man in the cloak teleported in front of the door and stepped inside. He saw his boss who was a taller more intimating man with a longer dark cloak standing at a table with his back turned to him.

"Sir, I did it," the shorter man reported, "Shadow fell into the trap."

"Really?" the taller man queried, satisfied with his partner. "Let's take a look." He made a magic mirror using smoke and saw the same ditch that Shadow fell into. The boss looked all over that hole, but saw no sign of the black-and-red hedgehog. "Hmm... I can't seem to spot him."

"Must be buried in the rubble," the follower shrugged simply.

"'Must be'?" the boss repeated in dismay. "You didn't check to see if he was down there?"

"Well, no sir," the follower stammered nervously.

"You mean, as soon as you saw him fall into the hole, you left without making sure without a doubt he's buried alive?" the boss demanded, looming over his smaller partner.

"I-I just assumed..." the follower started, but his boss pounded the arm of his chair in aggravation.

"You don't just assume, you twit!" he roared. "You always make sure you check your enemies are down before you assume anything! Go back to that hole and check for sure this time!"

Scared out of his mind, he bowed down and vanished into thin air.

"And I'm going to make sure you look," the boss murmured, looking at his mirror to see his partner appearing at the hole.

The short cloaked man searched every inch of the hole, not believing he had to look for one dead hedgehog. As he looked for Shadow, he began to wonder where he was buried at. He thought maybe he was buried deeper into the ground. Then he remembered that person he was carrying in his arms. A girl, he thought. Then his eyes widened with horror, wondering if she helped him get out of that ditch and left with him.

The boss looked at this mirror, his arms folded and his finger tabbing them impatiently. "It's never good when you stand there and look worried," he growled.

The follower didn't know how to break the bad news to his boss, but seeing no other way, he appeared back at the warehouse again. "Uh, hello again, sir," he greeted shyly. "I checked the hole as you asked, but..."

"I know you couldn't find him," he replied sourly. "I saw everything through the mirror just to be sure you did what you were supposed to do. I also saw a deep concerned look on your face when you were down there."

"Well, I was just remembering what I saw before I saw Shadow fall into that hole," the little man explained, twiddling his fingers.

"What?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"You see, I saw a human girl in his arms, but I didn't pay attention because I wanted to make certain he fell in the hole." He smiled nervously. "I suppose she helped him get out..."

"Are you saying some girl is with him?" the boss asked and his follower nodded. The tall man groaned with deep frustration. "It seems that Shadow has made a friend since we took his Chaos Emerald," he concluded. "However, if they both got out, that means Shadow is still running. He could be anywhere by now." He knocked the table over, making his follower lean back against the wall. "If that hedgehog is still around, he'll try to take back the Chaos Emerald."

* * *

On the road Aurora was walking on, Shadow saw just how far away they were from the hole, much to his gratitude. They were several miles away, actually.

"I must say, you're not as slow as I thought you'd be," he commented.

"Gee, thanks," she replied sarcastically.

"I didn't mean it like that," he reassured, knowing she thought he assumed she was a very slow human. "I'm just surprised about how many miles you've walked in the past fifteen minutes, that's all."

"Well, you see, when I'd met Sonic, I told him how slow I used to be back at home," she explained over her shoulder, "He taught me how to be much faster than before I came to Knothole."

"I see."

"Perhaps I should do less walking and start running?" she suggested.

"That won't be necessary," he declined. "With a hedgehog and two backpacks on you, it's probably best not to overdo it." He didn't want her to be worn out, running with a load on her back even though he did want to meet with Omega right away.

Aurora was about to protest, but she decided to take his word for it. "All right, but how long do you think we can get to this town to meet Omega?"

"Well, the town's called Twin Lakes which is 50 miles. So if we keep going like this...it should take us about a day or two."

"Boy, oh, boy," Aurora cheered in a low monotone. "I just hope we don't run into whoever dug that hole."

"So do I..." Shadow replied sincerely.

* * *

It was getting a little late in the afternoon since sun high had passed, but they'd covered a lot of ground during that time, thankfully. Aurora looked to her right to see some trees and flowers little way off and smiled at the sight of them.

"You seem to like this," Shadow observed when he'd seen what she was looking at.

"Yeah, this place is just so beautiful. It makes me feel at home, being around nature," she confided.

When she mentioned the word "home", Shadow remembered Aurora saying she herself was taken away from her home, but never told her how or why. He was going to ask her...but then again, he wouldn't tell her what he was doing in that forest where they'd met nor tell her about who dug that hole. So he decided to drop it.

"Sonic and his friends have shown me so much of Knothole and a few places beyond and Knuckles introduced his island to me as well," Aurora continued. "They've all made me feel at home."

Shadow was silent, not knowing how to respond to her. Honestly, there were things he'd like to know about her, but he also reminded himself of his secrets, so he of all people had no right to pry.

"Tell me, Shadow, does G.U.N. feel at home to you?" Aurora asked him curiously.

"Not really," he answered. "It's more of a place where I work than a home."

"What places make you feel at home, then?"

"I suppose this sort of thing," he said, looking around their natural surroundings. "It's always nice to get away from everything, to find peace and quiet."

"To truly find yourself, huh?" she queried.

"You could say that," he smirked.

"It's nice to meet friends who like and appreciate nature as much as I do," she commented, smiling at him.

A little while afterwards near sunset time, Aurora and Shadow came to a small forest.

"Is this the same forest you took on your way to Roca?" Aurora asked.

"Yes, which means we've really come a long way," he declared.

Happy to hear that good news, Aurora walked on, but started to feel sluggish when they came to a clearing.

"Are you all right?" Shadow asked.

"Just a little tired," she confessed, showing him the worn out look in her eyes.

"Let's stop, then," he announced, "We'll came here for the night."

Aurora nodded and put Shadow down. "How's your leg?"

"Still hurts," he answered regretfully.

"What about your arm?" she asked, remembering she didn't change his bandages yesterday.

"The cloth you gave me is still there. I forgot to check it with everything going on."

"Here, let me look at it." She unwrapped the torn off strip of her jacket from his arm and stuffed it in her pocket to sow it back on later, then gave his arm a proper bandaging. "There we go," she said, standing up. "Now I'm gonna go collect some firewood."

"Hold on," Shadow stopped her.

"What is it?"

Shadow pulled out a little silver whistle. "I meant to give this to you this morning. "It's a whistle that blows a sound frequency that only hedgehogs can hear. In case you need help, blow on this."

Aurora looked at Shadow for a second, then smirked. She took the whistle saying, "Thanks, Shadow."

Shadow nodded. "Just don't go too far," he told her. "With this leg, I don't know how fast I can get to you."

"I'll stay close," she reassured, going off to find some sticks for the fire.

Shadow waited for her, sitting on a log, touching his wounded leg. "Of all the times to have a bad leg," he mumbled hoarsely. He hated that he couldn't run and take her to Twin Lakes. Since he knew that trap was meant for him, he was afraid they might know Aurora's with him...and might try to hurt her, too.

"I'm back," Aurora announced with tons of sticks in her arms. After she started the fire, Shadow struggled to stand up.

"Come on," he beckoned her, "it's time to resume our training from last night." He tried to stand up on his legs, but his twisted leg wouldn't let him.

"Shadow, wait, how are you gonna train me with a bad leg?"

"I'll manage," he answered simply. "Let's go."

Aurora wanted to object, but she kept her mouth closed and made a fighting pose. "All right."

Shadow tried to copy her pose, but winced and fell down with pain. Aurora went up to him and helped him on his feet. "Shadow, maybe you can teach me by sitting," she suggested. "You know, observe what I do and if I'm doin' anything wrong, you can tell me."

Shadow thought about it, and sighed deeply. "Okay." And he sat down in his log. "Get in position."

Aurora obeyed, posing for her training.

* * *

"Good, good," Shadow said while Aurora threw her arms and kicked the air. "Keep your legs up when you kick. Don't be afraid to hit when you use your arms."

Aurora followed his instructions carefully, thankful she was getting most of her moves right.

"All right, we're done," he announced.

Aurora panted hard, but the training did her body wonders. She felt faster and stronger, even more than when she'd learn how to run faster from Sonic and workout her body helping Knuckles with Angel Island.

"You're doing well, so far," Shadow commented with a satisfied grin.

"Happy to hear that," she breathed.

"Come on, let's have dinner and then get some sleep."

"Okay."

* * *

After dinner, Shadow and Aurora fell fast asleep, exhausted from a long day. In his sleep, Shadow was twitching, dreaming of walking in darkness.

_"Where am I?"_ he asked himself as he kept walking and looking around. _"How do I get out?" _

_"Well, well, well, Shadow,"_ said a rough and unsettling voice from behind him. Shadow turned sharply to see the tall man in a dark cloak, standing a few feet away from him.

_"You!" _Shadow shouted.

_"Glad you recognize me. You recognize this?" _He pulled out from his sleeve a gleaming yellow gem. Shadow had lost that to him and his partner in the forest before he fell in the river.

_"Give it back to me,"_ he commanded.

_"I don't think so,"_ the cloaked man denied, _"Besides, don't you have something else to protect? Or someone?" _

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"That girl you met in the forest where she rescued you,"_ he answered, which terrified Shadow because he was afraid they would know about Aurora.

_"She seems very nice,"_ the tall man added, _"but her biggest mistake was involving herself with you. No, actually, that was _your _mistake for getting _her _involved." _

_"Look, if you want to have a fight with me, fine, but stay away from Aurora,"_ Shadow demanded, clenching his fists.

_"My, my, you seem awfully protective of someone you just met,"_ the man remarked, admiring his nails.

_"I mean it!"_ Shadow exclaimed, _"Don't go anywhere near her!" _

The man just laughed evilly, making Shadow charge at him and hit him, but his body faded as if he was an illusion. He could still hear his enemy laughing, making Shadow put his hands on his head, and bending down like he was having the most painful headache.

Shadow gasped and opened his eyes to find himself back in that clearing in the forest. He looked at Aurora who was sleeping a couple steps away.

Shadow sighed with relief, thankful it was just a nightmare...or was it supposed to mean...? He stared at his red-haired traveling companion who turned to the other side to get comfortable.

Shadow looked at his lap, fearing the worst for her. This girl had helped him at the river and helped him save those people in Roca. Being with her was like having the two girls whom were taken away from him came back.

_I can't lose another friend. I've already lost two important people to me, I'm not going to lose her, too._

Starting tomorrow, he _was _going to get Aurora to Twin Lakes so Omega can take her safely to G.U.N. and be safe from both Eggman and those two men in cloaks...wherever they were hiding.

* * *

(Hey, I hope this chapter hasn't been too boring. But it'll get more exciting on the next chapter. I promise ya. ; ) See ya then and God bless.)


	12. Brooks & Lakes

**Chapter 12: Brooks & Lakes**

The next day, early in the morning, Aurora felt her shoulder being shaken and she drowsily looked up to see Shadow. "Hmm?" she moaned.

"Come on," he ordered with a firm tone which amazed her. "It's time to get up."

Aurora wondered if there was something bothering Shadow, but she didn't want to make him mad, so she obeyed.

"I've already got breakfast," Shadow informed indicating a stump with two apples.

"Wait, how'd you get this?" Aurora asked, remembering he still had a twisted leg.

"I shook a tree and made the fruit come down," he answered.

_Oh, that's what he did. But it seems he really wants to get goin'. Well, we are still miles away, so I guess the sooner we leave, the better._

Still, she couldn't help but ask herself why he sounded this strict. Sure, he wasn't always what one would call "cheerful", but he wouldn't act this authoritive. However, she said nothing and ate her apple.

After they had their breakfast, Shadow said, "All right, now that we're done, let's go." Aurora nodded, turning to throw her apple core away. When she wasn't looking, Shadow came up to her. To her shock, Shadow lifted her in his arms.

"Shadow, what are you doing?" Aurora asked.

"I'm carrying you this time," Shadow announced, his eyes fixed on the road ahead of them.

"Shadow, wait, what about your leg?"

"It's starting to feel much better," he answered, still not looking at her. She knew then he was lying. There was no way was his leg could've felt better that fast when he could barely stand yesterday.

"Shadow..." Aurora started to protest.

"Don't argue," he interrupted sternly, which made Aurora flinch, "I'm running the rest of the way and that's final."

Aurora couldn't understand what had gotten into him, but she didn't know what or how to say anything else, so she kept quiet again.

"Hold on," he told her, and started running. His speed was slower than usual, which didn't surprise her and she saw his eyes twitch in pain.

_He is not all right. His leg is still botherin' him. Why did he lie about it feelin' much better? And why is he more serious than usual?_

They didn't go many miles and Shadow was wincing a lot.

_He's in pain from his leg. He can't go on much longer._

Just when Aurora thought that, Shadow was coming on a rocky path and tripped over one of the rocks and they both rolled over on the hard rough ground.

Aurora groaned and rubbed her head. "Ah, man..." She turned to see Shadow lying on his front. She walked up to him and rolled him over. "Shadow, are you all right?" she asked concernedly.

Shadow's only response was opening his eyes slowly. Aurora looked at his forehead to see it bleeding. "Oh, man, you've got a gash on your head." She took off her backpack and took out the first-aid kit and started cleaning his wound. "Hold still," she instructed.

He winced from his new pain as she did her work and wrapped a bandage around his head. "There, that should do it," she informed him. Shadow just looked away from her, not knowing what to say.

Aurora finally summoned up the courage to ask him what was going on. "Shadow, why did you lie to me? You said your leg was feelin' much better, but I know it's not. You had a pained expression on your face the moment you carried me out of the forest."

Shadow didn't answer or turn to her.

"Shadow, I understand if there are things too private for you to tell me," she continued, "but we're friends. We shouldn't be lying to each other, especially if we're hurt."

Shadow remembered how he and his first best friend used to always open up to each other and tell each other their worries or fears. Then he remembered his second friend...whom he'd known for a very short time, but she would open up to him like his first friend would.

He told himself that Aurora is her friend now...and he should be as open with her as possible since his two friends were gone from his life forever.

He looked at her, taking her hand and said, "You're right. We should be honest with each other."

Aurora smiled and gripped his hand. Shadow decided it was time to tell her everything.

"I wanted to get you to Twin Lakes as soon as possible so you'd be safe with Omega at G.U.N. H.Q. because...I don't want you in danger if you stay with me."

"What do you mean?"

"I know who dug that hole."

"You do? But you said you..."

"I didn't at first," he explained, "but then a second later, I realized who. You see, G.U.N. sent me on a mission outside of Roca to find some suspicious characters. I found them, two guys wearing dark cloaks. They snuck up on me somehow, so I used a Chaos Emerald to defeat them..."

Aurora eyes widened when he mentioned a Chaos Emerald.

_He had one of his own...? So...he can use those emeralds like Sonic can..._

She listened as he continued. "Or at least I tried to defeat them. Do you remember this scratch on my arm?" he asked, moving his bandaged arm. She nodded.

"I have one of them to thank for giving me this," he said dryly, "When I was distracted by my wound, they stole the Chaos Emerald from me. Just when I was going to get it back, they had me go down a waterfall into a river."

"So that's how you ended up where I found you," Aurora remarked thoughtfully.

Shadow nodded. "When we fell into that hole, I had a feeling those people who took the Chaos Emerald knew I was alive and are trying to get rid of me. That's why I wanted to get you to Omega so those men in cloaks won't hurt you." Aurora didn't know what to say so he kept talking. "I didn't tell you about any of this because I wasn't completely sure of you when I met you and it was a classified mission."

"I see."

"I'm sorry I lied to you. I just don't want you involve in any of this."

Aurora understood what he was going through. After all, she wouldn't tell him much about herself even though she knew he was good deep down. "It's okay, Shadow. I understand your reasons, but I do appreciate your honesty."

Shadow grinned, grateful to her for understanding his secrets.

Aurora bent down and said, "Come on, we'd better get goin', but _I'm _carrying you this time."

Shadow slowly got up and gripped her shoulders. "Whatever you say," he replied which made Aurora smile at his now reasoning behavior and walked on the long path, both feeling better about knowing the truth and complete trust in each other as friends.

* * *

A little while as the sun rose, Aurora thought about Shadow's honesty towards her...and she decided to return the favor.

"You know, I think I should say something to you, too," she told him, grabbing his attention, "I'm not from Mobius. I'm from Earth."

"You are?" he asked, surprised just like Sonic and the others were.

She nodded. "I didn't tell you that because I was a little wary of you myself."

Shadow grinned. "It seems we both have trust issues," he commented.

"Perhaps so."

"But how did you end up on this planet?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I just woke up in a field somewhere and then Sonic found me."

"Were you wary of him?" he queried.

"Well, I knew it was a shock to see a giant talking hedgehog, but something told me he was trustworthy. Now don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't like you at first when I met you and I knew you were good deep down. It's just...well, your nature isn't the same as Sonic's, so...

"I understand," he nodded, "You're right, even though our speeds are the same, our personalities aren't."

"And after I told him where I was from, he told me how he and his friends visited another Earth that wasn't mine..."

"Wait," he interrupted, "did you say another Earth?"

"Yes, you see, Sonic and the others did a lot of great things for the Earth they went to, but I knew it wasn't my Earth because I would've known from T.V. news and stuff. It surprised them, no doubt...but even so...they were willin' to help me find out how I got to this world.

"And when you promised me you were gonna take me someplace safe...your promise reminded me of Sonic's promise to help me get home. Not to mention, you were open enough to tell me your secrets, so now I know I can trust you with mine."

Shadow grinned, flattered that she'd learned to open up to him, too. "But have Sonic and the others found out anything about how you got here?"

"No, they found nothing, but they kept me from getting homesick and showed me a bit of their world which I enjoyed. One day, Eggman came and...well, you know..." she trailed off.

Shadow just blinked in sympathy.

"I think that maybe he knows where I'm from 'cause Tails says he might've sent his spying robots and I also think that maybe he wants to know how I got here...so he can get to my world."

"Now why would he want that?" Shadow questioned.

"...Well, Sonic always defeats him...maybe he wants to go to a world where he'd be free of him," she suggested.

"Sounds like a possibility...but if he's been spying on you, he should know that you don't know how to get back home," he pointed out.

Aurora thought that that made sense... So if he was spying on her and knows she doesn't know the way back to her Earth...then what does he really want with her?

She looked at the ground in worry. What would he do to her if he ever caught her...?

Shadow noticed this and said, "It's okay. Whatever he wants from you, he won't get it."

Aurora smiled at that reassurance and nodded.

* * *

Now Aurora and Shadow were walking into a different forest with trees a lot higher than the last ones last night. Maybe 15 feet high.

"Did you come across these woods on your mission?" Aurora asked.

"Yes. In fact, we're not that far from Twin Lakes."

"Really?" she asked enthusiastically. "How many miles do we have left?"

"30 miles."

Her excitement vanished away quickly at that answer. "Boy, that's not far at all," she said sarcastically.

"Well, thankfully, you're a fast walker," he consoled.

"Yeah," she agreed, "since I'm a faster runner now, that makes my walking faster, too."

"Then Sonic has both of our gratitude," he remarked, making her smile.

Suddenly, they heard rustling not too far away. "You hear that?" Aurora whispered, looking around.

"Yes, I did. Put me down for a moment," he replied.

She nodded and gently put him down on the ground, helping him stand up straight.

"Who's there?" Shadow demanded raising his voice for whomever was near.

Then a tall young man with light brown hair and...some kind of white robes which reminded Aurora something a knight would wear when they're not wearing armor and she saw that he had a bow and an arrow pouch on his back.

"Before I say who I am, please tell me who you are," the stranger requested.

Shadow wasn't sure if it was okay to tell him anything, but seeing he had weapons and that his leg was still hurt, he didn't want to risk Aurora's safety so he answered, "I'm Shadow the Hedgehog and this is my friend Aurora. And you are?"

"Ryan," he replied, "I'm from a village called the Healing Brook. What brings you here?"

"We're just passing through, sir," Aurora told him, thinking he took them as intruders. "We're not here to trespass."

"So you say," Ryan said not completely convinced.

"It's true," Shadow insisted, "We didn't even know there was a village around here."

Ryan then turned his attention to Aurora, staring at her intently. "There _is _something different about you," he murmured.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He just kept staring at her, then finally said, "Please come with me."

"Why?" Shadow asked narrowing his eyes.

"Because there are things we'd like to know about you," Ryan replied giving him a calm look.

"We're sorry," Shadow apologized lightly, "but that's not going to happen. We've got somewhere to go."

"If you're wondering if my people and I are hostile, we're not," Ryan reassured. "We're protective of our home, yes, but we only attack if people attack us first and since one of you is hurt," Ryan added, looking at Shadow's bandages on his head, arm and leg, "I think you'll need a Healer to help you."

_A healer? As in a doctor?_

"Excuse me, Ryan, but I've got a first-aid kit that's been working for him just fine," Aurora proclaimed.

"Well, your nursing skills may have helped him, so far, but it'll make the process much quicker if he came to see one of our Healers," Ryan persisted.

Shadow just looked at him, not sure if he believed him. Aurora, however, thought that maybe he was telling the truth. "You swear you mean us no harm?" she asked.

Ryan nodded. "As long as you mean us no harm."

Aurora couldn't explain it, but she knew there was truth in his eyes and told Shadow, "I think we can trust him."

"Aurora..." Shadow started.

"If he knows someone who can heal you up faster, you can walk just fine again," she reasoned, "Hey, you might be able to run again. It's worth a shot, don't you think?"

Shadow still wasn't sure, but if he was telling the truth, then his leg would heal and he could get Aurora to Omega by today, hopefully. "All right, Ryan, we'll follow you, but if you're lying, you'll deeply regret it," he warned.

"Then I have nothing to worry about," Ryan replied unflinchingly, "This way."

"Come on, Shadow," Aurora said, bending down for Shadow to climb on her back again, then following Ryan.

* * *

He led us to a village that had up to over fifty tents with adults chattering and working and children playing and at the end of the village was a brook that flowed gently and gleamed beautifully in the sunlight.

"Wow..." Aurora commented in awe. "Shadow, look at this place. It's so beautiful."

"It's definitely something amazing," he agreed.

"Believe me, my friends, it gets more amazing," Ryan hinted, walking towards a big tent. "Please come this way," he beckoned.

Coming to the tent, Aurora detected the scent of herbs since she was learning about them from Knuckles and saw inside the tent was middle-aged man with black beard and hair with gray specks which resembled his age, working with the herbs, not looking to see there were visitors outside.

"Healer Thomas?" Ryan called, making the middle-aged man look at him.

"Ryan, there you are," Thomas said, getting up.

"Thomas, I found these two outside our village," he reported, showing him Shadow and Aurora behind him. Thomas looked at Ryan in question as if he wasn't all that pleased strangers were in the village. "They've informed me that they're not a threat and I believe them," Ryan assured.

"Do you?" he queried.

"Yes, I do," he answered affirmed, "They say they were passing through the woods, but the black hedgehog named Shadow is hurt."

Seeing Shadow's bandaged leg, Thomas said, "Oh, I see."

"And, Thomas," Ryan added, his voice low, "there's something about the girl named Aurora that makes her...different."

Thomas looked at Aurora, giving her the same stare Ryan did. "Hmm..." he hummed, stroking his beard, "Yes, I do see that."

Aurora tilted her head in confusion. What were they talking about?

"Welcome to the Healing Brook, friends Aurora and Shadow" Thomas greeted, bowing to them, "I understand that you were passing through the woods."

"Yes, sir, we were," Aurora nodded.

"And I see that you have some injuries there," Thomas noted to Shadow. "Well, don't worry, I've got a special trick that'll work wonders." He led them inside his tent to a sleeping mat on the floor.

"Here, set your friend down here," he told Aurora who gently placed Shadow down.

"Now just lie down, Shadow," Thomas requested, "And whatever you do, don't move too much and don't speak."

Shadow wondered what he meant, but he just nodded and did what he was asked and laid perfectly still.

Ryan leaned in and whispered in Aurora's ear, "You're going to be impressed." Aurora looked at him to see an amused smile on his face which made her tilt her head again.

When she turned back to Thomas, she saw that his hands started to glow green. Both Aurora and Shadow's eyes widened as Thomas placed his green hands on all three of Shadow's injuries. Once he was done, Thomas's hands stopped glowing and he asked his furry patient, "Now...how do you feel?"

Shadow got up slowly, confused by what had just happened, then felt his arm, leg and head and said, "I feel really good." Curious, he unwrapped the bandage from his arm and looked at it in amazement. "The scratch is gone."

He started unwrapping the bandage off of his head, too, and Aurora looked just as amazed when she told him, "Your gash is gone, too." Then she wondered about something. "Can you stand just fine?"

Shadow stood up, testing his wounded leg and he didn't wince in pain at all. "Yes... Yes, I can."

"Wow..." Aurora replied. "How is this even possible?"

"Allow me to explain," Thomas said, "You see, for several centuries, we've developed healing powers that have helped us for generations. But we had to keep our powers a secret because anyone evil would capture us and force us to use our gifts. Or they would try to destroy us."

Aurora looked at them in sympathy, sorry they had to live in fear and secrecy like this. "No wonder you're so protective of your people," she told Ryan.

"Of course, some of us don't have healing powers," Ryan put in, "but for those of us who don't, learn to defend the village from intruders."

"And although Healers such as myself have powers, we use herbs for in case we can't use our powers. Sort of a last resort, if needed. And we Healers and soldiers work together to protect our families, friends, and homes as our people have done for so many, many years," Thomas concluded.

"This is so fascinating," Aurora commented, not believing there were humans on Mobius who could have powers like this. Then she realized something. "I'm also guessing you'd like us to keep your village a secret, then."

"Yes, we would," Ryan nodded. "Even though we find you harmless, we'd still appreciate it if you'd never tell another soul about our whereabouts. The less people who know of our existence, the better."

"We understand," Shadow replied, "We won't tell anyone about you."

"We promise," Aurora agreed.

"We're grateful for your understanding," Thomas smiled.

"It is we who are grateful," Shadow said, "Now we can get to where we're supposed to go."

"A moment, please," Thomas beckoned them to wait before they left the tent. "By any chance, are you fast?"

Shadow nodded. "Very fast. Why?"

"Then you're the same creature the other soldiers saw a few days ago when they were on patrol," Thomas averred, "They said they saw something black moving faster than the blink of an eye."

"I see, though I had no idea there was a village around here," Shadow responded.

"Then that means our living in secret has not failed us," Thomas remarked.

Shadow glanced at Aurora, remembering what Ryan said about her when he'd met them in the woods. "Ryan, you told Aurora there was something different about her. Why did you say that?"

"Because when I looked at her, I felt something...odd," he answered, looking at her again, "Something that doesn't belong in this world."

"And when I saw you myself, I knew Ryan was right," Thomas added.

Aurora looked at both of them in wonder. _They can tell I'm not from this world? _"So you can sense there's something not right about me?" Aurora asked.

"Well, we didn't say 'not right'," Ryan corrected, "In fact, what we sense is something...very right about you."

Aurora blinked at them in confusion.

"What Ryan means is," Thomas explained, "You have something that is very good and yet it's nothing like anything here."

"Exactly...how can you tell there's something different about me?" she queried curiously.

"Well, although we soldiers don't healing powers, everyone in this village can sense things in people," Ryan answered, "and we can sense something that's not native to any place on Mobius."

Aurora looked at the ground, taking all of this in.

"You know what we're talking about, don't you?" Ryan deduced.

"Not completely, but..." Aurora trailed off, not knowing how to explain it to them.

"You can tell us your secret, Aurora," Thomas comforted, "If we can trust you with our secrets, you can trust us with yours."

Aurora looked at them...and even though she may not sense things like they can, but she could tell just like with Ryan a while ago, that they could be trusted to learn of her origins. "Well, if what you're saying you know there's something about me shows I'm not from here, then..."

"Aurora, are you sure you want to tell them this?" Shadow doubted.

"I'm sure, Shadow, I'm sure," she affirmed, then turned to Thomas and Ryan, "You see, I'm from another world called Earth." They listened as she told them about how she found herself on Knothole and made new friends who know of her origins and went place to place because Eggman was after her for some reason. She skipped to the part where she escaped Eggman's robots and found Shadow and travelled from Roca to the Healing Brook to find a town called Twin Lakes to meet with Shadow's robot friend so she'd be safe.

"I see..." Thomas remarked when she'd finished her story. "Shadow, may I ask why you ran through here past Roca?"

"If you're wondering if it was to meet Aurora, you're wrong," Shadow told him, "I didn't even know she was from another world when I met her until later. She came by me because she found me injured in a river."

"Injured in a river?" Ryan repeated. "How did that happen?"

"Let's just say, I got attacked by people who want me...gone," Shadow answered softly.

"So you have enemies?" Ryan guessed.

"And they stole something very valuable," Shadow added. "That's why I need to get it back from them after I take Aurora to a safe location. I know Eggman, too, and he stops at nothing to get what he wants."

"So this Eggman knows there's something special about you, too," Thomas asked Aurora.

Aurora nodded, "Do you know what's so special about me?"

"Well, I really can't say," Thomas confessed sadly, "We can sense it, but we can't really explain it much."

"But if someone as bad as this Eggman wants you because of it, you're in danger," Ryan finished.

"And that's why we should get going," Shadow said, "Come on, Aurora."

"Sorry to leave like this," Aurora apologized, "but we really have to go."

"We understand, but you are both welcome to our village anytime," Thomas said.

"We appreciate that, and I do appreciate your healing gifts," Shadow replied.

"Quite welcome, my black friend," Thomas responded. "Good luck to the two of you."

* * *

Once they were away from the Healing Brook village, they found the path they'd been trekking before they met Ryan.

"They were really nice," Aurora commented.

"Seems like it," Shadow agreed.

"At least they fixed you up now."

"They sure did," Shadow said, flexing his arms and legs, "I haven't felt this good in a while." He lifted Aurora in his arms, a brand new look of satisfaction on his face. "Now that I can run just fine, we can really get going."

Shadow then ran, feeling a bit happier to be moving faster again. Aurora, however, wasn't happy. At least not about his running. She knew that once they'd reach Twin Lakes, she'd have to say good-bye to Shadow who had become another good friend of hers...and that was something she didn't feel ready for. She looked away from him which he noticed.

Shadow thought she was being strangely quiet and wondered what was bothering her. He turned his eyes back to the road and saw a little town. He came to a halt and announced, "Here it is."

Aurora looked to see a town that was much smaller than Roca, but more beautiful since it had grasses that blew in the breeze, looking silver in the sunlight and she could see the two big lakes that gave the place its name and saw how they were glittering in the warm afternoon sunlight, making it look like stars were shining on the water's surface.

"Look at this place," she said, standing up. Although she liked the looks of the place, she still had a sad expression and Shadow was getting more and more concerned.

"So where do you think Omega is?" she asked trying to hide her sadness.

"He should be waiting for us around her somewhere," he answered, looking around for his friend.

As they walked through the town, Aurora looked sadder by the second until Shadow couldn't take it anymore.

"Aurora, let's stop for a minute," he said.

"Why?" she asked, sitting on a bench.  
"Because I'd like to know why you look upset," he answered straightforwardly.

Aurora wasn't sure how to say it at first...but she'd been open to Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and the others, and she wanted to be open with Shadow since he'd been open with her.

"It's just...for over a week now, I've gone from saying good-bye to Sonic, Amy, and Tails without saying good-bye to Cream and Cheese to saying good-bye to Knuckles so suddenly. In fact, I couldn't even say good-bye to him, either, because of those robots of _his_. And now I'm gonna have to say good-bye to you. I just..." She looked at the ground sadly. "I just don't like leaving a new friend so soon and lately that's what I've been doin'."

Shadow looked at her with deep sympathy. He knew just the kind of the thing she was going through. "I understand exactly what you mean. I had to say good-bye to special friends, too. One friend named Maria whom I've known for the longest time sacrificed her life to save mine." That made Aurora look up at him to see the pain in his eyes as he continued. "And another friend, Molly, whom I'd only known for a very short time, was a really good person, had faith in me...saw me as a hero... Then, before my eyes, she disappeared to fight enemies in the sky...never to be seen again. To this day, it still breaks my heart whenever I think of them, wishing I'd been able to save them."

"Shadow...I'm so sorry," she apologized sincerely. _No wonder he's so serious... Poor Shadow..._

Shadow took a deep quiet breath. "That's why I do my best to protect the friends I have now...Rouge, Omega...and you."

Aurora's eyes softened and she slowly smiled. "Well, I'm happy I can be a friend to you...and...don't blame yourself about Maria and Molly. They did what was right for you and for others...just like you would have. They'd want you to keep fighting on and helping people...and to remember the live friends you have now and to know they're still with you in spirit."

Shadow slowly grinned, knowing she was right. His friends would want them to live on for them and to take care of the people he had now. He took her hand, still grinning, pointing his head to the side. "Come on, let's go find Omega." As they walked, Shadow gripped her hand, remembering how he held Maria and Molly's hands before...

Aurora didn't object...although she wasn't used to someone holding her hand this much, she was kind of thankful because it made her feel comfortable and she was also flattered because he thought of her as a friend, too... _I wish he hadn't lost his other friends..._

Shadow, who was still holding Aurora's hand, looked from left to right. "Where could Omega be?"

"What does he look like?" she asked.

"He's taller than you and he's red."

"Then he shouldn't be too hard to notice," Aurora remarked, "Especially in a town like this."

To respond her remark, Aurora heard a mechanical voice behind them say, "Shadow," and she looked with total surprise to see the great robot walking towards them.

"There you are," Shadow said, happy to see his friend at last.

"I have been waiting for your arrival for two days now," Omega said, standing in front of them.

"I'm sorry, Omega, but things got in the way," Shadow answered.

"Let me inform Rouge that you are here," Omega announced, looking at his communicator.

"Rouge came with you?" Shadow asked amazed.

"Yes. Yesterday, she reported back to me and informed me that she could not find any information on Unit Aurora."

_"Unit"? Do all robots here talk like this? _Aurora asked, tilting her head.

"She couldn't find anything?" Shadow asked in dismay.

"She could not even find Eggman's hideout," Omega explained, "He be hiding very well."

Shadow closed his eyes, not happy with the news at all. "This is not good." He gripped Aurora's hand again, wondering how to help her now.

"We are still trying to figure out what his plans are for our new friend here," Omega said, motioning to Aurora, "Just this morning, Rouge came here to help me search for you."

_Did he just say "our" new friend? _Aurora asked, amazed to hear him call her their friend already.

"Let me call Rouge right now." He turned on his communicator. "Omega to Rouge, I have found Shadow and Unit Aurora," he reported.

"About time," said a deep female voice at the other end of the line. "I'm on my way."

After turning off his communicator, Omega looked at Aurora. "So this is the Unit Aurora you have informed me about."

Shadow nodded. "Aurora, I'd like you to officially meet Omega."

"I am pleased to meet someone who was of assistance to Shadow," Omega greeted, putting a hand to his chest.

"Pleased to meet you, too, Omega," Aurora replied, though she was a little nervous around him. The last robot she'd seen were the ones attacking her and Knuckles on Angel Island. Of course, she knew Omega was a good robot since he was friends with Shadow, after all.

"Well, Shadow, aren't you tardy for the party?" said a voice above them and Aurora saw a white-furred bat with a pink heart-shaped shirt landing in front of them. "Aren't you usually the fast one?" she teased.

"If I hadn't ended up with an injured leg, we would've been here yesterday," Shadow remarked.

"You hurt your leg?" Rouge asked concernedly.

"Yes, but it's healed up just fine," he assured her.

"Well, that's good to know," she said with relief, then turned to Aurora. "So you're the Aurora I've been hearing about."

She nodded. "I've heard some things about you, too, but mostly from Knuckles than Shadow."

"So you met Knuckles?" she queried, shaking her hand, "How's he doin'?"

"He's fine," she answered, but looked at the ground, "At least I hope he is. Eggman's robots were still on Angel Island before Knuckles sent me away. I just hope they left him alone."

"Hey, hon, if Eggman's after you, then those robots wouldn't have bothered with ol' Knuckles," she reassured, knowing the red echidna well enough, "Besides, as stubborn as he can be, that guy's tough."

"True," Aurora agreed.

"Okay, now that we've made our introductions, let's get things going," Shadow pronounced, "We all know Eggman's after her and we don't know why yet."

"Afraid so, handsome," Rouge replied, "I've looked at all the places Eggy's hideout used to be and there's no trace left of it at all. Seems that he's finally learning from his mistakes, sadly."

"He's somewhere. It's got to be someplace we haven't thought of looking," Shadow deduced, thoughtfully. "But before we do that, Omega, you need to take Aurora to G.U.N. H.Q. where she'll be safe."

"Affirmative," Omega answered.

"And when you get there, see if you can repair Aurora's communicator. Tails made it for her, but apparently it got messed up from the Master Emerald's energy sparks. If you can get it working again, she should be able to call Sonic and the others, so they'll know what happened to her."

"Of course." Turning to Aurora with an open metal hand, he asked, "May I see your communicator?"

She nodded and took her off wrist com and gave it to him.

"This should not take too long to fix," Omega assured Shadow.

Shadow nodded. "Rouge, while Omega takes care of Aurora, you and I will do business elsewhere. I'll explain as soon as we go."

"Right," Rouge said.

Aurora was unsure about this.

"I assure you, you'll be just fine with Omega," Shadow promised, noticing her expression.

"I don't doubt it. I'm just concerned about you, that's all," she confessed. Just how dangerous were these cloaked men who took Shadow's emerald from him like that? What would they do if he met them again?

"Don't worry, hon, I'll keep Shadow out of trouble," Rouge joked reassuringly.

"If you do that, who'll keep you out of trouble?" Shadow teased back.

"Ha ha," Rouge mocked, "Very funny."

Aurora smiled at this, but had to ask, "I will see you soon, though, right?"

"You will, don't worry," he vowed which reminded her of another certain hedgehog.

"You know, that's something Sonic would say," she remarked.

"Careful, Aurora, you wouldn't want to insult him," Rouge warned playfully which made Aurora laugh.

Shadow just grinned. "It seems Sonic and I have a few more things in common than I thought."

With slight reluctance, Shadow let go of Aurora's hand and walked with Rouge.

"Good luck, you guys," Aurora called as they left.

"Thanks," Rouge called back, "You, too."

"Keep her safe, Omega," Shadow said.

"I shall not fail, Shadow," Omega swore.

And with that, Shadow ran with Rouge flying above, out of sight in an instant. As she watched them go, Aurora had missed them already and worried about them.

"Those two will be just fine," Omega assured her. "They have gotten in and out of places without a scratch most of the time."

_But when I found Shadow, he got out_ with_ a scratch that time. _

"Please follow me," Omega beckoned her, leading her to a small airport not far away. "We shall be taking a plane that will safely take us to G.U.N. H.Q."

As she followed him, Aurora was taking in all the stuff that was going on around, all the places she'd been, all craziness she was experiencing, and all the friends she was meeting and saying farewell, too.

_I hope that soon, all of this will end... But what does Eggman want with me? Why did those men take Shadow's emerald from him? And what about Knuckles? Did those robots really leave him alone? And what about Sonic and Tails? Just how far are they searching for me..? And what about what Ryan and Thomas said about this...thing inside me? The thing that's supposed to be very good. If Eggman knows about this, then how did he find out and what does he want with it...?_

So many questions filled her head. She hoped they'd all be answered soon. And more importantly, her friends don't get hurt because of it.

* * *

(Hey, I hope this chapter wasn't too boring. But the next one should be good. Stay with me, please and God bless.)


	13. Captured!

**Chapter 13: Captured!**

After leaving Twin Lakes, Rouge noticed that Shadow was quiet the whole way. Of course he was always quiet. Then she thought about Shadow holding Aurora's hand a while ago, and she couldn't help but remember the last girl's hand he held and that was Molly's. She was with him when Molly had flown into the frontlines, never to be seen again.

Rouge wondered if that was why Shadow was so protective of Aurora. After all, he'd lost two friends in his life. First Maria and then Molly. Rouge didn't doubt Omega, but she hoped Eggman would never get his hands on the kid because she knew if Shadow lost her, too, it would really tear him apart.

Finally, Rouge decided to break the silence and flew down to him and asked, "So, Shadow, what exactly is our top secret mission this time?"

"Getting back the Chaos Emerald I lost," he answered as he kept running.

"You lost it?" she asked amazed to hear someone could take an emerald from him.

"How else do you think we arrived so late?" he quipped, keeping his eyes on the path he ran on.

"But how?" she asked curiously.

"It was stolen by those people G.U.N.'s been talking about. They're no pushovers unless you're by a waterfall," he explained bitterly.

"They pushed you into a waterfall?"

Shadow nodded. "After they took the emerald from me," he finished, "I was in a river until I grabbed ashore. That's when Aurora found me and helped me."

"Seems like Knuckles sent her to the right place," Rouge commented.

"We were leaving Roca until we fell into a giant hole," Shadow continued, "It wasn't there when I had first crossed it, so then I knew those thieves dug it."

"Is that how you hurt your leg?"

"Yes, but it didn't take long to heal, like I said. Nothing serious." Shadow didn't tell her about the Healing Brook because he and Aurora had promised Ryan and Thomas they wouldn't tell anyone about them. "Although, it did slow us down."

"No kidding," Rouge replied, hinting the amount of time it took him and Aurora to show up at Twin Lakes.

"And now that Aurora's safe in Omega's hands, we can work on finding those men and getting the Chaos Emerald back. That's why we're going back to that hole we fell in so we can check for some clues."

"What I'd like to know is how they found out you were still alive after you fell into the river," Rouge queried.

"I don't know, either, but if they found out then, I'm sure they know I'm still running."

"Guess they really don't want you to find them and the Chaos Emerald. But why did they want it in the first place?"

"We'll find out soon enough," he told her. It was a good question, though, why did they take the emerald from him? What could they do with it? Then he thought about Rouge who would just keep a Chaos Emerald because she just liked jewelry, but he kept that to himself. Still...why were they determined to mak sure he was dead...?

* * *

After arriving at the headquarters of G.U.N., Aurora was with Omega in a repair room where he was tending to Aurora's wrist com.

"Your communicator will be fixed shortly, Unit Aurora," Omega reported.

"Okay," she replied, "You know, Omega, you really don't have to call me Unit Aurora. Aurora will do just fine."

"My apologies, Aurora. Force of habit as a robot," he explained.

"I understand," she nodded. Being with Omega so far, has made Aurora feel more comfortable around him now.

_He's kinda a softy for someone made of cold hard metal. I guess even robots have feelings, too. He seems to have more feelings than these soldiers. I mean, these guys make me feel uneasy._

Ever since they came to the H.Q., the men looked at Aurora and she felt they were thinking they didn't like having some kid around. To think, Shadow used to make her a bit nervous when they'd first met.

"There, your communicator is now fully operational," Omega announced, handing her the functional wrist com.

"Great. Thank you, Omega."

"You are welcome," he acknowledged. So far, Omega didn't think Aurora was so bad, either. Although he could tell she was nervous around him at first, she didn't treat him as some walking machine like anyone else would, but treated him like a person like Shadow and Rouge did in a way.

"Now I can finally call Sonic and the others." She turned on the com's switch, hearing static. "Tails? Tails, are you there?" she called, but she only heard more static. "Tails, come in," she urged.

To her surprise and gratitude, came the voice of the same modest fox she'd missed so much. "Aurora?"

"Thank goodness," she sighed.

"Aurora, is it really you?" asked a happy voice and she knew it was Sonic.

"It sure is, Sonic," she answered, overjoyed to hear from the Blue Wonder at last.

"Are you all right? Where in the world are you?" Sonic inquired.

"I'm just fine, Sonic. And I'm at G.U.N. H.Q."

"That's great," Sonic replied, then when G.U.N. was mentioned, he asked, "Wait a minute, what are you doing at G.U.N. H.Q.?"

"It's a long story." Before she explained, she remembered Knuckles. "Hold on, what about Knuckles? Is he okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm right here, Aurora," answered a deep gruff voice.

"Oh, great," Aurora sighed gratefully. "I was worried about you when I left. Did those robots leave you alone?"

"Yeah, as soon as they knew you were gone, they took off," he answered.

"Good," she nodded.

"After that, Knuckles told us what happened and we tried to find you through your communicator," Tails explained, "but the Master Emerald did something to it."

"I know, I couldn't call you guys, either, when I was transported to a forest far away from a town called Roca."

"Roca?" Sonic echoed.

"Yeah, you see..."

* * *

Aurora told them all about how she'd found Shadow and came to his aid; ran with him to Roca and stopped a fire there and stayed for a night because the town's bridge was broken; left for Twin Lakes to meet Omega, but fell in a hole which was set up by the same men who took Shadow's Chaos Emerald, then finally found Omega and came with him to G.U.N. after watching Shadow and Rouge go off on their own.

"And that's what happened," Aurora finished.

"So you met Shadow, huh?" Sonic queried, amazed to hear that she'd met his rival.

"Yep."

"And he took you to Omega so you'd be safe from Eggman, right?" Tails added.

"That's right."

"But what did Shadow and Rouge have to do?" Knuckles asked.

"I believe I know," Omega stepped in.

"Is that Omega?" Tails asked, surprised to hear the robot.

"Affirmative, Unit Tails," Omega answered, giving him the word "unit" like he did with Aurora, "You see, as Aurora mentioned, Shadow lost the Chaos Emerald before he met her. He and Rouge must be working on getting it back."

"Those guys must be something if they took a Chaos Emerald from Shadow," Sonic put in.

"That is why he wanted to bring Aurora to me so she would be safe from them and Eggman," Omega mentioned.

"Well, I'm glad she met Shadow, but shouldn't we be picking her up from G.U.N.?" Knuckles asked.

"I am afraid that may not be a good idea, Unit Knuckles," Omega denied, "If I remember correctly, Eggman found Aurora in Knothole and on Angel Island. If she goes either one of those places, she will not be safe."

"Omega's right, guys," Aurora agreed, "Knothole and Angel Island aren't good hiding places anymore. And he sent robots at Angel Island before. Imagine what he might do next if I stay with you guys in Knothole again. No, I think it'd be best for all of us if I stay here with Omega for a while. Just until you guys find and stop Eggman." She had already put their lives and homes in danger staying with him, she wasn't going to risk it again.

All was silent on the other end of the line where Sonic was thinking quietly.

"She does have a point," Tails said. "G.U.N.'s a better hideout for her than here or Angel Island. I mean, they've got armed defenses and trained soldiers."

"And we're supposed to trust G.U.N. to take care of Aurora?" Knuckles questioned raising an eyebrow.

"She's with Omega," Tails assured, "He's strong enough to protect her. And when Shadow and Rouge come back, she'll be even safer, especially with Shadow." They all knew how strong Shadow was and they knew he'd be back soon to help Omega protect Aurora.

Knuckles didn't respond, not sure that he liked Aurora staying with people like the G.U.N. officers, but Sonic thought differently. Sure, he wasn't all that fond of G.U.N., either, but he felt maybe she, Tails, and Omega were right. No place else was safer, at least not Knothole or Angel Island and there were at least three people he knew and trusted at G.U.N. Maybe she was better off there.

Wanting to get Aurora's opinion, Sonic asked, "Do you really think you'll be all right with G.U.N., Aurora?"

"Yes," Aurora insisted.

"Well, okay," Sonic said, "As long as Shadow and Rouge come back soon."

"I'm glad you guys understand," Aurora thanked.

"Well, we're still against it a bit," Knuckles confessed, "but it seems we don't have any other choices."

"We'll keep you on the update when we find Eggman, Aurora," Tails told her.

"Thank you and good luck," she replied.

"You, too, Aurora. Keep her safe, Omega," Sonic requested.

"You sound like Shadow, Unit Sonic," Omega remarked.

"Careful, Omega, you wouldn't want to insult him," Aurora winked, mimicking Rouge from earlier.

"Ya got that right," Sonic agreed, which made Tails and Knuckles laugh. Aurora knew that clearly he didn't like being compared to Shadow much.

"See ya, Aurora," Sonic said.

"Bye, guys," she called, then turned off the com. _I hope they can handle my staying here..._

* * *

Back in Tails's workshop, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were discussing Aurora's temporary residence with Omega.

"I still don't like that she's with G.U.N.," Knuckles grumbled, his arms folded. He never said anything, but he'd been really worried about the kid ever since the Master Emerald sent her away from his island and he'd been the most concerned about her being alone on Mobius with Eggman still searching for her. He was glad she'd met someone good, but he wished she was back with them...

"She's got Omega with her, Knuckles," Tails reasoned, "He won't let anything happen to her."

Sonic was quiet, thinking about everything that'd happened. He himself was settled with Aurora guarded by Omega, but he couldn't help but wonder about something...

"What's the matter, Sonic?" Tails asked, noticing his friend's puzzled expression.

"It's just that I'm wondering why those guys took a Chaos Emerald from Shadow," Sonic said thoughtfully.

"Yeah and exactly how did they even manage to take it from him?" Knuckles added.

"Thankfully, now that Aurora's at G.U.N., she won't get involved with them," Sonic put in positively.

"Yeah, but Eggman's still lookin' for her and we haven't found him in days," Knuckles reminded him.

"And we still don't know what he wants with her," Tails said, "Even Rouge couldn't find any leads to his base."

"Hmm...Eggman's being more careful than usual this time," Sonic thought aloud, "If he's hiding himself that well and if he wants Aurora enough to send a lot of robots to Angel Island...then he's definitely up to something big. " _I just hope we find out whatever it is and that Shadow and Rouge get back to G.U.N. soon._

* * *

Meanwhile, close to Roca, Shadow and Rouge made it to the large hole he and Aurora fell into, looking for clues that would give them a lead to those cloaked thieves.

"Boy, were they busy with this or what?" Rouge commented as she looked at the big ditch.

"It must've took them a while to dig a hole this big," Shadow deduced.

"Yeah, probably a whole day," Rouge determined.

Then Shadow had a realization regarding Roca. "Hold on, after Aurora and I saved those people from a fire, the mayor told us the bridge was broken and that it was going to take a day to repair."

"Yeah..." Rouge replied listening.

"So how do we know the thieves who dug this hole didn't break that bridge first?" Shadow quipped.

"Hey, that could be a possibility," she agreed.

"The bridge was the only way we could leave Roca," Shadow added, "They must've broken it since that would give us no choice but to wait for it to get fixed."

"And that gave them time to dig this giant ditch," Rouge finished, "But how could they be sure you were buried alive? You didn't see them, did you?"

"No," he shook his head, "I didn't see anyone. No one came to the hole at all."

"But why wouldn't they come to see if you were buried in all this gravel?"

"Maybe they didn't think they'd have to," he guessed. "They probably thought we were goners the first second we fell in."

"Not very thorough, are they?" she remarked. She flew up over the hole to get a better view of the place when she spotted something. "Hey, Shadow, look." She swooped down to a large boulder to show him something behind it. "Footprints."

Shadow looked at the footprints. Shadow narrowed his eyes, looking at the footprints. He knew whoever was here, he was just standing on the spot, but from what he was seeing, it looked like as if...as if he didn't walk at all. There were only two footprints, that's it.

"I don't get it. Just two feet right here," Shadow said.

"But how could he leave this spot without leaving any other footprints?" Rouge asked.

Shadow thought and he came to a conclusion which sounded unlikely, but... "Maybe he had another way to leave...by teleporting."

"Teleporting?" she repeated.

"It's the only thing I can think of. To be honest, when those people ambushed me, it was like they came out of nowhere. I didn't hear their footsteps at all."

"So they just appeared as if by magic," Rouge guessed.

"Yes."

Rouge looked amazed yet very confused. "Just what are we dealing with here?"

"I don't know yet, but I do know that they took the Chaos Emerald and we need to get it back as soon as possible."

They decided to go to the forest where Shadow'd been attacked to find some more clues there. This was all very confusing to Shadow. Those guys weren't just thieves, they were magicians of some kind. But...what could a couple of magicians like them want with a Chaos Emerald...?

* * *

Back at G.U.N., Aurora found a room somewhere and started practicing her lessons from Shadow, kicking and throwing fists in the air.

Omega came in the door looking for her and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Practicin' self-defense moves that Shadow taught me," she answered as she kept working out. "He thought it'd be good if I could defend myself in case I run into trouble and no one comes to help me. Not that I don't think you couldn't help me," she reassured her robotic friend, "It's just good to keep up my exercises. Have you heard from Shadow and Rouge yet?"

"No, neither of them have called," he answered reluctantly.

Aurora paused for a moment in worry.

"But perhaps they have found a few clues about the ones who attacked Shadow," he put in.

"I hope so," Aurora said, resuming her exercises.

* * *

After talking with Aurora, Tails had called Amy, Cream, and Cheese to come over to his workshop and tell them that Aurora was safe and sound, but needed to stay with Omega.

"You mean, Aurora's staying at G.U.N.?" Cream asked, holding Cheese who cooed sadly. They had missed Aurora and never got the chance to say good-bye to her before she left.

"Well, she and Omega said that if she came over here with us, Eggman would find her," Sonic explained, "And it's not safe for her on Angel Island, either."

"And just how do we know G.U.N. will treat her nicely?" Amy queried, putting her hands on her hips. She wasn't a fan of G.U.N., either, since they were a strict bunch.

"Well, if they don't, they'll have to answer to Shadow," Knuckles answered, "so I think G.U.N.'ll be smart enough to be fair."

"How long will she stay there?" Cream asked.

"As long as it takes for us to find Eggman," Sonic replied.

"Well, couldn't we still visit her at least?" Amy pressed.

"That may not be a good idea, Amy," Tails doubted. "We can't risk it if Eggman sees us going somewhere and sends a spying robot to follow us and see where Aurora is."

"Couldn't we still call her?" Cream pleaded.

"Sure," Sonic answered, "We did tell her we'd call her back soon."

"At least there's that," Amy nodded, "but I still wish it were someplace else besides G.U.N."

"Well, G.U.N. may be a better place since it's has high-tech security and stuff. Aurora should be just fine," Sonic reassured.

* * *

Late in the afternoon, Shadow led Rouge all the way from Roca to the forest where Aurora had found him, but took her to the waterfall where the fighting scene was taken place with trees branches scattered and tree trunks scratched.

"Right here is where they attacked me," Shadow said.

"I can clearly see that what with all the damages," Rouge replied.

Shadow looked around the place to find any clues about his attackers, then noticed some gray dust on one spot from the ground. "Hmm..."

"What?" Rouge asked, coming up to see what he was looking at.

"It seems someone stepped into some ash before they got here," Shadow supposed, touching the powder.

"Ash. Where'd they step into some ash?"

"Somewhere where there was a fire..." Shadow deduced, "But this forest doesn't have any places that are burnt at all..." Then again, these people teleport themselves somehow. Perhaps they came from someplace else where there's ash all round.

Shadow turned on his wrist com and called Omega. "Omega, come in. It's Shadow."

"I hear your call, Shadow," Omega responded from the other end.

"Omega, I need you to find locations where there were fires that have lately burned anywhere near Roca," Shadow requested.

"On it," Omega said, looking it up on a computer on any fires until it beeped to a spot on the map that was really far away from Roca and from the forest. "There is one location where there is ash everywehere," Omega reported, "It's at Dark Valley."

"Sounds cheerful," Rouge commented sarcastically.

"If it's where the Chaos Emerald is, then that's where we're going," Shadow said.

"Anything else you need of me, Shadow?" Omega asked.

"Yes, how's Aurora doing over at G.U.N.?" Shadow asked curiously.

"She is fine. She is practicing her self-defense exercises right now."

Shadow grinned, pleased that his newest student was keeping up with her lessons without him.

"All right. Thanks, Omega," Shadow replied.

"You are welcome. Good luck, Shadow and Rouge."

After Omega ended the call, Rouge looked at Shadow with a raised eyebrow. "Self-defense exercises?"

Shadow nodded. "I taught her some moves that may help her in her time of need."

"Gee, Shadow, never think you'd take someone under your wing like that," she remarked, amazed that Shadow would play the role of a teacher.

"It's better than having her helpless. Come on, we have to get to Dark Valley."

Rouge followed Shadow as he ran west of the forest leading to the place where hopefully those men with the Chaos Emerald were. Once Shadow found them, he would really give them a piece of his mind, and much, much more.

* * *

In that same warehouse where the cloaked men were staying, they had a visitor who came for the item they'd promised him when he'd hired them. Taking out the yellow gem from the bag, the leader handed it to his client with a bushy brown moustache. "Here's the Chaos Emerald you've requested, as promised, Dr. Eggman."

"Thank you so much for your services," the doctor nodded, taking the emerald, then pulled out a bag that made a jingling sound. "And here's your reward," he added, tossing them the bag.

The men caught the bag and poured little jewels out into their hands, their eyes gleaming at their payment.

"It was nice doing business with you," Eggman said, turning to the door. "I'll be off now. I have other important things to do."

"Uh, I think we should warn you that the Shadow you told us about, he's still alive," the leader said reluctantly.

"I'm not surprised," Eggman replied calmly, "Shadow is the Ultimate Life Form."

"Yes, well, we tried to stop him by burying him alive in a giant hole, but it seemed he had assistance getting out," he explained, glaring at his flunky telling him, "Although, that could've been stopped if _you _hadn't left the hole without checking!

"I said I was sorry," his follower insisted.

"What kind of assistance did he have?" Eggman asked curiously.

"Some human girl he was carrying in his arms," the follower answered.

"Did you say human girl?" Eggman queried, getting interested all of a sudden.

"Yeah."

"What does she look like?"

"Uh, well, I didn't get a good look at her, so..." the follower trailed off.

"Here, maybe this'll help." Eggman pulled out a little device that showed a hologram of a red-haired girl.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's her. It must be her," the follower claimed.

"Really?" Eggman responded with a grin. "Well, it seems you boys deserve a bigger reward. Here." He handed the two more jewels.

"My, my," the boss said.

"Don't ask why I gave you extra," Eggman told them, "Let's just say you've made my plans even easier."

* * *

By the time it was close to twilight, Shadow and Rouge had found the gloomy burned up forest of Dark Valley where ashes were covering the whole ground floor.

"Definitely a cheerful place," Rouge joked, looking at the depressing area.

"We're not here for sight-seeing," Shadow said. "Can you fly above? Their hideout must be around here."

"Be right back," she replied, taking flight. She scouted the dark forest until she saw a little warehouse close by. "Shadow, I found something!" she called, leading the way. Shadow followed her until he saw for himself the warehouse that looked old and was singed from the fire.

"Well, now that we've found them, let's give them our friendly greetings," Shadow told Rouge who landed next to him.

"Ooh, I can just see their happy faces seeing you again," Rouge winced playfully.

"As long as they give us back the emerald, they will be happy."

He and Rouge quietly crept up to the door and heard the leading thief inside saying, "Can you believe it? All these jewels for us."

Shadow then knocked down the door hard, which made the thieves jump and their eyes widen with horror when they saw who was at their door.

"Not all of them are for you," Shadow corrected, giving them a very intimating glare. "I believe one of them belongs to me."

"Not you again," the leader growled in frustration, ready to disappear, but Shadow was quicker and grabbed him by his cloak.

"You're not going anywhere!" he declared, pinning him down on the ground, taking the bag from him.

Rouge came in and then grabbed the little follower. "You're not goin' anywhere, either, cutie."

Shadow shook the bag empty of the little jewels, but he couldn't see his Chaos Emerald with them. "It's not here. Where is it?" he demanded.

"I don't know," the leader answered.

"Don't lie to me!" Shadow shouted tightening his grip.

"I mean it, I swear!" the leader vowed now terrified of the black-and-red hedgehog. "We had it, but it's long gone."

"Wait a minute here, you lose a big emerald, but you've managed to take care of those little beauties just fine?" Rouge questioned.

"That's because we gave some guy the Chaos Emerald," the follower blurted.

"Keep your mouth shut!" the leader snapped.

"Oops," the follower said.

"Who is he?" Shadow asked, pulling the leader closer. "And you'd better tell me the truth."

"Okay, I'll tell you," the leader yielded. "It's some scientist named Eggman."

"What?" Shadow asked, shocked to hear his name.

"Eggman has the Chaos Emerald?" Rouge queried, just as shocked as Shadow.

"Yes," the leader nodded.

"Why does he need the Chaos Emerald?" Shadow asked.

"He didn't say," he explained, "All he said was that it would help him with some project and that he'd pay us those jewels if we got a Chaos Emerald from you. So we've been attracting attention at G.U.N. so they'd send you to the forest close to Roca and you'd fall into our trap."

"After we gave him that Chaos Emerald, he gave us extra jewels," the follower added, "He said that we made his plans easier after we discussed that new friend of yours. That girl you were carrying in your arms when you fell into that hole? He even had a holographic picture of her for me to recognize her."

Shadow and Rouge's eyes widened, knowing whom they were talking about. "Aurora!"

* * *

Back at G.U.N., when the sun was starting to set, Aurora felt depressed since there was no window to look at the sky. Honestly, she didn't like the G.U.N. H.Q. It was not only unwelcoming, but it was just so closed to the beauty of the world outside.

"I miss Angel Island," she sighed sadly. "It was much more fun than this."

"There you are," Omega said, finding her leaning on a wall in a room.

"Hi, Omega," Aurora greeted quietly, not looking at him.

"Is something troubling you?" Omega asked, noticing her looking down.

"I'm just a little bored since I finished my exercises," she confessed.

"Perhaps maybe..." Omega started to suggest, but was interrupted by an alarm.

"What's going on?" Aurora asked through the noise.

To answer her, an announcer from a speaker in the room said, "We're under attack! All units, go!"

"Aurora, you stay here where it is safe," Omega instructed. "I will lock the door."

After he left and shut the door tight, Aurora whispered, "Be careful, Omega." She'd liked the robot already and hoped that this attack wouldn't bring anything bad on him or anyone else at G.U.N.

As soon as the locked the door, Omega run down the hall to help his fellow officers and came downstairs to see the same robots that invaded Angel Island bursting through walls.

"Egg-droids!" Omega cried, beginning to shoot at the enemy robots.

After he was done shooting them down, a male's voice said, "Well, well, well, Omega-E123."

Omega saw through the smoke in a hole in the wall was the mad scientist Dr. Eggman in his flying transporting saucer.

"Dr. Ivon Robotnik," Omega said, using his original title.

"Gracious of you to remember your old master's name," the doctor replied.

"It is not hard to remember a dangerous unit," Omega retorted.

"Listen, since we...used to be friends," Eggman reasoned, "I'll make it easy for you if you tell me where the girl is."

"I know not of what you are saying," Omega lied.

"Oh, don't play coy. I know she's here," Eggman proclaimed. "Shadow left her in your care, if I'm not mistaken. Knowing him, he wouldn't want her to be in harm's way if she stayed with him."

"What business do you have with this girl, anyway?" Omega asked.

"That's for me to know and for her to find out."

Omega wasn't going to have it and started shooting at his former master who dodged from his attacks.

"You always were a stubborn robot," Eggman remarked getting annoyed, "Very well, if you won't tell me, I'll look for her myself. And since you're in my way..." Eggman pressed a button that brought out a laser cannon that shot at Omega's chest, causing a lot of damage that made him fall down.

* * *

"Is Omega all right?" Aurora wondered aloud. "Is this...like that dream I had?" She remembered when Eggman's robots had chased her and captured her... _Is this...all going to happen right now? _"I can't stay in this room. But I can't leave Omega." Then she remembered Sonic, but before she could even call for help, the door broke into pieces, making her scream and see the familiar robots that'd attacked Angel Island. "Oh, great."

The robots came towards her, shooting nets, but Aurora dodged them all, running around them and exited through the broken door. "Oh, please be all right, Omega," she begged as she ran through the halls. Just when she was about to make a turn in a hallway, she saw Eggman.

"Hmm? Well, look who it is," the doctor said, grinning evilly.

"Dr. Eggman." Aurora backed away from him.

"I'm so glad you remember me," he replied, looking flattered.

"I have to since you're after me," she said, giving him a glare.

"True, but let's not be so resistant."

"And why not?" she queried.

"Please hear me out, miss. I know that you're from another world. How? Well, I have my ways," he said simply. "Anyway, I know you want to go home so I have a proposal for you. If you help me with my special project, I'll be happy to help you get home."

Aurora eyed him, not convinced he was telling the truth. "You'd do that?" she questioned.

"Of course. Why not? You help me, I help you."

"Then why haven't you said any of this before?"

"I would have, but Sonic is so distrusting of me, he wouldn't let me tell you when we first met in in the meadow."

Of course not. Who'd trust their long time enemy?

"Okay, then if you wanted to help me, why didn't you just send a messenger to me when you knew I was on Angel Island?"

"Well, you see, Knuckles is a very stubborn echidna and tends to hold a grudge. There was no way he'd let a messenger of mine come to Angel Island in one piece."

Aurora could hear the hesitation in his voice and noticed a metal bar in the floor. "I don't believe you. I don't know what you want from me, but..." She grabbed the metal bar and threatened him with it. "...you're not gonna use me for anything!" _Hey, this is just like my dream._

Eggman sighed. "Very well, miss, if you won't come peacefully, I'll just have to use another method. Egg-droids." He motioned his hand to the robots who came in from a hallway next to them.

The Egg-droids shot nets at her, but she dodged them again, running past Eggman through the way he came from. _I'm so grateful to Sonic for giving me running lessons. _Then she skidded to a halt and saw with horror Omega on the floor, his chest sparking and damaged and open to reveal wires and such.

"Omega..." she whispered, going up to the wounded robot. She couldn't believe that this'd happened to him.

"Aurora..." Omega said slowly. "You...must run..."

"Oh, Omega..." Aurora didn't want to leave Omega, but she knew she couldn't let Eggman capture her, so she turned back to the hallway. "I'm so sorry, my friend," she told the good robot she'd grown fond of and ran. _Omega's damaged so badly. Oh, why? _Aurora felt so very guilty that she'd put him in danger along with everyone else in the building, but she shook her head to snap out of it. "Now's not the time to grieve. I've got to call Sonic."

Before she could touch the com, the Egg-droids came and shot nets at her, but she dodged once again. Knowing she was too fast for them, one Egg-droid shot at a ceiling, causing rubble to fall down in front of her. Aurora stopped and when the dust revealed she was trap, her eyes widened with terror. "Oh, no!" She turned around and before she knew it, a net had caught her.

She struggled, trying to break free, but it was no use and the Egg-droid dragged her away.

Aurora was very, very scared. She was now Eggmans' captive. _This just like my dream... No, it's a nightmare that just came true._


	14. Battle at Sunset Canyon

**Chapter 14: Battle at Sunset Canyon**

As soon as Shadow heard from the thieves that Eggman discovered Aurora was with him, Shadow knew full well that the doctor would know where to find her and so he ran as fast as he could, looking like a black-and-red lightning bolt on his way to G.U.N. with Rouge trying to keep up in the air.

_I have to get to G.U.N. before Eggman does. _Shadow told himself, keeping his eyes fixed on the road to the headquarters.

Rouge had tried to call Omega through her com, but she didn't get an answer. She called Shadow and said, "I can't get ahold of Omega. I think there's something wrong with his communicator."

Now Shadow was worried like crazy and put on more speed. _Let them be all right. Please let them be all right. _Shadow begged quietly.

Finally, he reached a hill that overlooked the G.U.N. H.Q. and stood frozen in horror to see that the building was damaged almost all over. He knew that Eggman was here.

"Shadow!" Rouge called coming next to him, then gasped when she saw the headquarters. "What's...?"

"Eggman beat us here," Shadow said, dashing towards the H.Q. "Come on, we have to find Aurora and Omega."

Rouge nodded and followed him.

Shadow looked from left to right, never looking so frantic. "Aurora! Omega! Answer me!" he hollered, but received no response. Rouge came up next to him, looking almost as worried. She'd never seen Shadow this scared before.

"Let's split up and search," Shadow directed and made his way to a right in a hallway, then stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes widened when he saw his good robotic friend Omega, lying on the ground with his chest damaged and letting out small sparks. "No..." he whispered, almost shaking.

"What is it?" Rouge asked, seeing Shadow standing in a hallway, then saw for herself their friend injured and covered her mouth in shock.

"Omega!" Shadow called, going up to him. When Shadow got a closer look, he could see that Omega's chest was open and knew the damage was caused by a laser gun of some sort. The poor robot didn't answer Shadow.

"Omega, say something," Rouge pleaded, touching his shoulder.

"Sh-Sh-Shadow...R-R-Rouge..." Omega replied, his voice sounding very weak. "Eggman came for...Aurora. I was shot...Aurora came...I told her to run... Last thing I remember...Eggman said he had...captured her."

Shadow felt like his heart just stopped. He couldn't believe that his new friend was in Eggman's hands...

"That can't be," Rouge whispered.

Shadow lowered his head, angry with himself for not getting here on time. Aurora was in danger and who knows what Eggman will do to her?

"I am sorry, Shadow..." Omega murmured, "I failed to keep her safe."

"No, Omega, I am sorry," he corrected. "I should've never left. If I'd stayed, none of this would've happened."

"Shadow..." But Rouge was interrupted when Shadow pounded the floor.

"I promised I'd keep her safe from him!" he yelled despairingly, "And I broke my promise..."

This was exactly what he felt when he'd lost Maria and Molly. He couldn't save them. Now he felt like he'd lost his new friend forever as well...

Rouge took a deep breath and walked around Omega to Shadow and gave him a firm slap on his face. "Get yourself together, Shadow!" she scolded when he looked at her touching his cheek. She wasn't going to let him give up now when there was still a chance to save Aurora. "I understand you're upset, but now's not the time to sit here and blame yourself. If you really want Aurora back, you'd get up, find Sonic, team up with him, and rescue her."

Shadow was amazed to hear Rouge talk like this, but he stood up, his expression serious, and said, "You're right. Sulking's not going to help Aurora. I will find Sonic and tell what happened. Meanwhile, I'd like you to stay with Omega and help him."

Rouge nodded, relieved to see him getting a grip.

"Be careful...Sh-Shadow," Omega asked, "...and bring her back safely."

"I will," Shadow promised. As he walked out the door, he stopped and said, "And, Rouge...thank you."

"Anytime," she grinned.

Then Shadow took off straight to Knothole to find Sonic and the others.

_If anyone can help, it's Sonic. I may not compliment him much...but he's just as good at saving lives as I am...maybe even better. And...he and I do make a good duo...every once in a while._

* * *

After her capture, Aurora was locked inside the robot that had captured her, so she couldn't see where Eggman was taking her. Finally, she felt the Egg-droid land and walk. Then, the droid opened itself up and pulled Aurora out by the hood of her jacket and dropped her on the floor in a cell.

"There's a word called 'gentle'," Aurora grunted, glaring at the droid that slammed the door. _Yeah, same to you. _

"I'm dreadfully sorry for this sort of treatment," Eggman told her, trying to be a gentleman, which was a laugh, "but if you had cooperated..."

"...I'd be making your job easier on taking over the world, no doubt," Aurora interrupted, standing up. "I know that's what you really want, so don't try to hide it."

"Now, now, Miss Aurora, let's not be upset."

_Aurora? He knows my name? _"So you have sent robots to Knothole to spy on me."

"Oh, you could say that. More like studying to be more precise," he corrected, making her raise an eyebrow. What did he mean by studying? "But listen, if you do cooperate, I will keep my end of the bargain and send you home."

"And Sonic and his friends' home would be destroyed," she hissed, glaring daggers at the doctor, sitting on the floor with her arms folded. "Even if you do succeed, it won't be because I agreed to help. Because I would never betray my new friends."

"You have loyalty, I'll give you that," he commented, "but whether you agree to help me or not, I will make this world mine. So just relax, and I'll have my Egg-droids fetch you in a while." Then the doc and his robots left her alone in her cell.

_Oh, what do I do? _Aurora asked herself, holding her head. Then she remembered her communicator, her hopes getting up, but when she looked at her wrist, she saw that the com was gone. She looked in her cell, but couldn't see it, then she looked outside the cell and saw it was on the ground, inches away from her reach.

_Oh, wonderful. _She sat down again, hanging her head. Now she was really in trouble and couldn't call for help. _Hang on, even if I can't work the com, it's still in one piece. That means Tails can find my signal. He and the others will be able to find me. There's still hope. That is, if they get here on time before Eggman does whatever he's gonna do to me. _

She hugged her knees, feeling very frightened. _Oh, Heaven, please help them find me._

* * *

When Shadow came to Knothole and found Tails with Sonic and Knuckles in his workshop, he reluctantly told them the horrible news of Aurora's capture.

"Eggman's got her?" Sonic cried when Shadow had finished, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"And Omega's damaged?" Tails added. He thought Omega wasn't such a bad robot, even though he was a little rough around the edges, which is what Aurora thought as well.

Shadow nodded, his eyes cast down, still a bit up with himself.

"I knew she shouldn't have stayed at G.U.N.!" Knuckles growled, punching his palm, "We should've gotten her in the first place."

"If G.U.N. H.Q. and your island couldn't keep her hidden, do you really think she would've been just fine here?" Shadow countered.

"If you hadn't left...!" Knuckles began to accuse Shadow with a raised fist and walk towards him, but Tails held him back.

"Knuckles, that's enough," Tails asked him. Knuckles just panted, glaring at the black-and-red hedgehog.

"I'm just as upset at myself as you are," Shadow spoke calmly, "After all, I'd promised to protect her from Eggman...and I didn't keep it. Omega feels guilty, too. I'd asked him to keep her safe and he got hurt trying...but he asked me to rescue her and Rouge told me to stop feeling sorry for myself and come here to tell you so we can save her. Because Aurora's safety is more important than pointing fingers."

Knuckles then saw the sadness and guilt in Shadow's eyes, and he lowered his fist, remembering how he felt the same way when he had to send her away because he couldn't protect her himself on Angel Island. Knuckles looked away, regretting shouting at Shadow like that when he was just as concerned for Aurora as he was.

"You're right, Shadow," Sonic agreed. "Aurora needs us now more than ever. Tails, can you find Aurora's com signal?"

"I can try..." Tails answered, getting on his computer, though he had a doubtful look, "...but I'm not sure if she's wearing it since Eggman's got her." Then his screen had a red dot blinking. "Wait a minute, there it is!" he cried, happily. "Her signal is at...the Sunset Canyon."

"Then that's where we're goin'." Sonic declared, wrapping his hand into a fist. _Don't worry, Aurora, we'll save ya. I promise ya that. _

* * *

After several eerie quiet moments in her cell, Aurora turned to see an Egg-droid coming at her, opening the cell, making her very, very uneasy. Then he grabbed her by the hood again, carrying her away.

_I should fight back, but this robot is too strong. At least he didn't see the communicator. But when the others come in here, they won't find me..._

The Egg-droid carried Aurora to a lab with Eggman sitting in a chair.

"Ah, there you are," he said pleasantly, then pointed to a tube. "Egg-droid, put her in there, if you may."

When the Egg-droid placed her inside the tube and closed it, Aurora felt terrified. What did this doctor want from her?

"What is this thing supposed to do, doctor?" she asked, trying to contain her fear.

"I'm glad you asked. You see, Miss Aurora, when you came here on Mobius, I did some scanning on you and I noticed something rather unusually interesting."

Aurora raised an eyebrow. _What kind of unusually interesting thing?_

"Have a look." He turned on a holographic screen that showed an image of Aurora. "This is you, just a regular girl...at least on the outside, but on the inside, you'll notice us." He pressed a button and the image revealed a glowing light in her chest.

"That's that supposed to be inside me?" she asked curiously.

"That, my dear, is a special energy," he answered, "The kind of energy that'll be very useful to me. Take a look." He pressed another button and a window in the lab opened to another room. In that room was a long, giant red machine that looked as big as a cruise ship, only this ship didn't look like a fun ride to Aurora.

"Impressive, huh?" Eggman queried, admiring the details of his machine. "It's an Egg-Scrambler. Can you guess what it does besides scrambling actual eggs?"

Aurora's eyes widened when she realized the answer. "It can scramble lands."

"That is correct. And do you know why I need your energy?"

Aurora thought for a second and figured it out. "You need whatever my energy is to fire it up."

"Very smart girl," he complimented, but she didn't thank him. "That's right, your energy is exactly what I need to get my Egg-Scrambler working, but that's not the only thing that'll help. Do you know what this is?" He pulled out a yellow gem that glowed in his hand. That's when Aurora knew what it was.

"That's a Chaos Emerald." She couldn't believe she was actually seeing one. It reminded her of the Master Emerald only yellow and a lot smaller.

"Correct, but can you guess where I got it from?" he asked.

Aurora remembered that Shadow'd lost a Chaos Emerald to some thieves and then understood. "Shadow. You sent those people to get Shadow's Chaos Emerald."

"Correct again," he chimed, "Yes, I hired two special men to draw G.U.N.'s attention so that shadow would come with this emerald and that they'd take it from him. You see, those men are skillful magicians and use their magical arts to steal from town-to-town. Of course I know it's hard to believe a couple of thieves could take an emerald from someone as powerful as Shadow, but while those men are not as strong and fast, they are crafty and sneaky. Plus, they can disappear from place-to-place."

So that was how they took it from him...but there was still something that didn't make sense to her. "So why do you need the Chaos Emerald when you have my energy?" she queried.

"Elementary, although your energy is strong, it needs a Chaos Emerald to enhance it for the Egg-Scrambler."

Aurora trembled when he was finished explaining. If what he said was true and if she did have a special energy of some kind, then he'd use the emerald to strengthen it and use that awful contraption to ruin the planet.

"And now that I have everything in place, let's get started," Eggman said, grinning evilly.

* * *

Tails flew the two hedgehogs and echidna very far away from Knothole in the X-Tornado, all thankful that the jet was super fast like Sonic and Shadow if they could fly. Finally, they reached a huge canyon, which looked as red as the sunset itself which was shining on the canyon.

"There it is," Tails announced.

"Land the X-Tornado somewhere so we don't get spotted," Sonic requested.

"On it." Tails landed the jet behind some large rocks away from the giant hole. They walked to the deep canyon and climbed down and when they came to the lower ground, they saw a tall metal door in the hard rock wall.

"Looks like Eggman built a new hideout," Shadow averred.

"No wonder we couldn't find him," Tails remarked.

"What are we waiting for?" Knuckles asked, cracking his own knuckles, ready for a fight, "Let's go and teach Eggman another lesson."

"Not so fast," Shadow stopped him, "Eggman may have traps."

Suddenly, Egg-droids appeared from holes in the ground, facing the furry intruders.

"I hate it when you're right," Sonic mumbled. But before they could move, Knuckles was the first to punch the robots into pieces.

"I'll hold them off," he declared, "You three find Aurora."

"Good luck," Sonic nodded.

"Be careful," Tails added.

Knuckles grinned and asked, "Where's the fun in that?" remembering that Aurora said that herself once.

"That's a little unsettling," Shadow remarked to Sonic as Tails started unlocking the door, "He's talking like you."

Sonic just shrugged, "Well, Aurora said it first after me, so I guess it's contagious."

Shadow just grinned, seeing how good friends Aurora was with his rival and his friends.

When Tails had opened the door, they stepped inside and stopped to a hallway. Tails pulled out a tracking device to locate Aurora through her com. "According to my scanner, Aurora's communicator is on the 3rd floor," Tails pronounced.

"Better take the ventilation shafts so we can find her quick and easy," Sonic suggested, pointing to a nearby vent.

Shadow opened the shaft himself and said, "Let's go."

* * *

In the lab Aurora was in, her tube started to power up, with the Chaos Emerald above her glowing brighter. She then felt pain as the tube sucked her energy out of her, making her lean on the glass.

_This tube and the emerald...they're both draining my body...but very slowly. Guys, please hurry._

* * *

Tails led the way as they crawled through the air ducts until they reached the cell room below them. "This is it, guys," Tails said, then Shadow opened the shaft and let Sonic and Tails go in first. To their dismay, they didn't see Aurora in the room.

"I think that scanner of yours has got a glitch, pal," Sonic remarked.

"But it says she should be in here," Tails insisted.

Then Shadow had spotted something on the floor and said, "No, it says her communicator is in here." He picked up the com off the floor close to the cell and show it to them.

"She must've dropped it," Sonic guessed. "Now what, Tails?"

"Well..." Tails trailed off, trying to think of something. Shadow had an idea and started ripping apart the door.

"What are you doing?" Sonic asked.

"Aurora's with Eggman somewhere," Shadow replied, the door completely broken off. "So we're going to draw Eggman's attention along with hers. And then she'll call us."

"What do you mean 'call'?" Sonic queried tilting his head. "She doesn't have her communicator anymore."

"No, but she does have a whistle only you and I can hear, Sonic."

* * *

Back in the lab, Aurora's body was feeling so numb, she could hardly stand. She panted for breath, her energy leaving her, making her weak every second.

"Just a little more and then it'll be complete," Eggman announced, looking at a gauge on his computer. Suddenly, they both heard crashing sounds. "What in the world?!" Eggman shouted.

Then Pocoe appeared on the screen. "Dr. Eggman, Sonic and Shadow are here," he reported, frantically.

"They're tearing the hideout apart," Decoe added just as frightened as Pocoe.

"What?" Eggman growled in irritation. "Those lousy hedgehogs. I'll send the Egg-droids to deal with them."

_Sonic and Shadow are here? _Aurora smiled. _That's great, but how will they find me? _Then she remembered the whistle that Shadow gave her yesterday. _Only hedgehogs can hear its sound. _She took out the whistle and with little strength she had, she blew on it, hoping it would be loud enough.

* * *

While they tore half of the place up, Sonic and Shadow's ears priced upward when they both heard a sound.

"That's her whistle," Shadow said. "Follow that sound." Before they could move, more Egg-droids appeared.

"Outta our way!" Sonic ordered, but of course the robots wouldn't listen. Then, out of nowhere, Knuckles came punching through the Egg-droids.

"Glad you could catch up, Knuckles," Tails said, happy to see him.

"Likewise," he nodded. "Did you find Aurora?"

"No, but Shadow and I hear her whistle that only hedgehogs can hear," Sonic answered pointing to a left in a hallway. "It's coming from over there." Then more Egg-droids appeared, more than the last batch.

"I'll deal with these guys," Knuckles told them.

"But there are too many," Tails replied worriedly.

"I can handle'em," Knuckles reassured, charging at the robots.

Tails didn't like leaving Knuckles to fight them alone. Even though he's super strong, fighting this many by himself wasn't a good idea. Looking at a broken Egg-droid, he turned to Sonic and Shadow. "You guys find Aurora. I'm gonna help Knuckles."

Seeing his best friend going up to the robot, Sonic understood what Tails was doing and nodded. "Good luck, you two." And he and Shadow took off to left side of the hallway, following Aurora's whistle.

"Tails, how can you help?" Knuckles asked.

"By re-programming this Egg-droid to give us a hand," Tails answered, rearranging the wires and such. "That should do it. Now it'll listen to me." His Egg-droid stood up and saw its fellow robots, taking them as a threat and shot at them.

"Heh, leave it to you, Tails," Knuckles commented to the genius fox who grinned bashfully.

* * *

Aurora had blown on the whistle several times and it was making it her feel weaker as the tube drained more of her energy. She panted harder and fell on her knees.

_I can't blow anymore...but I have to... _She summoned her remaining strength and blew once more.

In the hallway the hedgehogs were taking, they could hear the whistle clearer.

"She's close," Shadow said. Then they halted to a very large room, seeing the Egg-Scrambler.

"Whoa, what's that?" Sonic asked, looking at the gigantic machine.

"Must be what Eggman's been working on," Shadow guessed, then spotted a window. "Speaking of which..." Sonic looked in Shadow's direction and saw the doctor behind the window.

"The whistle is coming from up there," Shadow said. "Come on." They both rocketed themselves high in the air and bursted through the glass window.

Eggman backed up, shocked to see the two. Aurora looked up and smiled weakly, overjoyed to see Shadow and Sonic, whom she'd missed for days.

"How did you find us?" Eggman asked scared now.

"We just followed the sound for help," Sonic answered simply. They both turned to see Aurora locked in a tube panting and looking terrible.

"Let her out of there, Eggman," Shadow demanded, giving him a threatening glare.

"Afraid not, Shadow," Eggman objected. "I still need her energy for my Egg-Scrambler."

"Her energy? Egg-Scrambler?" Sonic repeated, tilting his head.

"He...he says I have special energy..." Aurora breathed deeply, "that can power up his Egg-Scrambler."

Shadow remembered that Ryan and Thomas told her that she there was something she had that was special. And it was her energy?

"And this Chaos Emerald has enhanced her energy to increase the process," Eggman explained, indicating the Chaos Emerald above Aurora's tube.

"Are you crazy?" Sonic cried, "That kind of power from the emerald will hurt her."

"Sonic, he wants to use the Egg-Scrambler...to destroy every piece of land on the planet," Aurora said, panting harder each second. "You have to stop it..." She leaned her head on the glass, looking like she wasn't going to make it.

"Eggman, if you won't let her out, then we will," Shadow asserted.

"Can't do that if you're not alive," Eggman stated, pressing a button. "Gentlemen, meet the Mega Egg-droid." They both turned to see an enormous version of an Egg-droid, that was probably bigger than three sycamore trees. "Take care of these two," the doctor ordered.

The Mega Egg-droid grabbed for the two, but they dodged. Shadow launched himself towards the robot, releasing some kind yellow bolts at the thing as if he was striking it with lightning.

"I'll deal with him. Get Aurora out!" Shadow hollered to Sonic as he kept attacking.

Sonic went towards the tube, but when he touched it, the tube let out a shock that hurt him. "Ahh!"

"Sonic!" Aurora shrieked. Sonic panted, showing that he was still alive much to Aurora's relief.

"As if I weren't prepared for this sort of thing," Eggman said, "I built an electric field around the tube so on one from the outside can break it and that goes for the Chaos Emerald above the girl, too."

"What?!" Sonic exclaimed angrily.

Aurora looked towards Shadow who was having a hard time beating the giant robot. "Sonic, you have to help Shadow... He can't destroy that...Mega Egg-droid on his own. And you both need to...destroy the Egg-Scrambler."

"What about you?" Sonic asked, not wanting to leave her.

"Sonic, what's more important? One life or...or the lives of millions?" She placed a hand on the tube, looking at her blue friend with pleading eyes. "Please, Sonic..."

Sonic really didn't like this one bit. Aurora had been a good friend to him and to his other friends as well. They'd all missed her and wanted to bring her back safely. But with a heavy heart, he knew she was right and nodded. "Just hang on a bit longer," he implored softly.

Aurora watched him go to Shadow's aid, grateful that he understood.

"You're quite noble," Eggman commented. "Giving up your life for others, but I'm afraid it's all for naught. Those two will never beat the Mega Egg-droid."

While Shadow was fighting, he was surprised to see Sonic coming at the robot with great force, but couldn't put a dent in it.

"What are you doing?!" Shadow yelled. "You're supposed to get Aurora out!"

"Her tube has a shocked field around it," Sonic explained, keeping his eyes on the robot. "The only way to help her is by destroying the Egg-Scrambler."

"It's going to be hard with this thing in our way," Shadow replied as they dodged the Mega Egg-droid's punches.

Aurora grunted, getting weaker by the second. _Even if I can't survive, at least Mobius will..._ She didn't want her life to end here, on a planet far from hers, not seeing her family and friends again...but she didn't want her new friends to lose everything because they had become a family to her. She would rather suffer than have her loved ones suffer.

She looked at the hedgehogs and to her complete horror, the Mega Egg-droid knocked them to the wall, and watched them fall down, not moving.

_No! Please, dear Heaven, tell me this isn't happening!_

Eggman laughed loudly. "Would you look at that?" he asked Aurora. "I told you they'd never defeat the Mega Egg-Droid. At last, with both of those miserable hedgehogs out of my way, no one can stop me!"

_No, no, no. Guys... _Aurora shed a tear, her hands shaking. Sonic and Shadow had become near and dear friends of hers and had always been there to cheer her up or help her...and now they were gone... She squeezed her hands and growled, glaring at the mad scientist. _I won't stand for this. I won't let this man harm anyone else! _

Suddenly, the Chaos Emerald glowed brighter than ever before, blinding Eggman. Then he heard a glass break and shielded himself from the flying debris. Then he looked to see something that made him mouth-agape.

Aurora's tube was broken and she was holding the Chaos Emerald in her hand, standing up straight with newfound strength and her bluish green eyes glowed bright white.

"I don't believe it..." Eggman gasped.

Then, with the emerald firmly in her hand, Aurora zoomed out of the lab through the window and grabbed a metal bar from the ground, standing next to the Mega Egg-droid that looked down at her.

"You're first, you horrible machine!" she screamed, her voice echoing. She took the metal bar like a sword and charged at the robot, making holes inside and tearing it apart from top to bottom.

"What is she doing?!" Eggman yelled from the window, staring with horror to see his precious robot being taken down.

Sonic groaned and rubbed his sore head. His vision was blurry and he saw something going in and out of the Mega Egg-droid and when he blinked to clear his vision, his eyes widened with complete surprise to see it was Aurora, trashing the giant robot when he and Shadow themselves could barely scratch it.

He shook Shadow's shoulders to wake him up. "Shadow, you've got to see this."

Shadow moaned as he opened his eyes, then he felt wide awake when he saw what Aurora was doing. Finally, Aurora landed squarely in front of Sonic and Shadow as the evil robot fell down in pieces.

Sonic stared at her in awe. "Aurora, did you...?"

"Yes, Sonic, I did," Aurora answered, showing her weapons. "Thanks to this metal bar and the Chaos Emerald."

"She used the Chaos Emerald?" Shadow asked in amazement.

"How is that even possible?" Sonic said just as confused.

"Beats me," Aurora shrugged, "but let's focus on taking care of this Egg-Scrambler first."

"You're too late, Aurora," Eggman called from the window. "You may have defeated my robot, but sadly for you, my Egg-Scrambler is at full power. This world is mine at last!" With a laugh, the doctor took off as his Egg-Scrambler went below under the floor.

Shadow stood up, finding his feet. "We have to stop him," he declared, clenching his fist.

"Here, Shadow, take the Chaos Emerald," Aurora said, handing him the yellow gem, "It is yours, after all." Once the emerald was in Shadow's hands, Aurora's eyes stopped glowing and her body felt heavy, making her drop the metal bar.

"Aurora, you okay?" Sonic asked concernedly when she was panting again. Then Aurora lost consciousness and started to fall down until Shadow caught her in his arms. Her breathing was shallow and Shadow could tell she was was really hurt.

"It's from being in that tube and from using the Chaos Emerald," Shadowe explained. "Both have been too much for her body."

"She needs help right away, but we need to stop Eggman," Sonic said, looking at his wounded friend.

It took less than a second for Shadow to think about it and motioned Sonic to hold Aurora. "You, Tails, and Knuckles take Aurora in the X-Tornado," he directed, "but you can't take her to a hospital because that won't help her. There's a place Aurora and I found when were together. It's a place called the Healing Brook."

"Healing Brook?" Sonic repeated, taking Aurora in his arms.

Shadow nodded. He knew he and Aurora had promised Ryan and Thomas not to tell anyone about their village, but they were the only ones who could save her. "It's a hidden village. We know a Healer and a soldier. They helped us before and they trust us, but I'm telling you because Aurora's life depends on it."

"So how do we find them?"

"They're in a forest 30 miles away from Twin Lakes. Tell them I sent you. They'll trust you," he pledged.

"What about you?"

"I have to destroy the Egg-Scrambler or Mobius is doomed." Looking at Aurora, he added, "I owe her that much." He took her hand for a second, gripping it to reassure her she was going to be all right, then he let go and said, "Take her," and took off to find the mad doctor.

Sonic watched him go and looked at Aurora, limp and hurt, and pressed her closer to keep her safe. "Hold on, Aurora," he whispered and ran to find Tails and Knuckles.

Luckily, they weren't far away and he found them surrounded by damaged Egg-droids on the floor.

"Sonic, there you are!" Tails called when he saw him carrying Aurora.

"Hey, you found her..." Knuckles noted happily, then stared in shock when he got a closer look at their injured friend. "What the heck...?"

"Aurora's hurt real bad," Sonic explained. "We need to get her to the Healing Brook. It's in a forest 30 miles away from Twin Lakes. Shadow and Aurora know people there and they can help her."

"But where's Shadow?" Tails asked.

"He's staying behind to stop the Egg-Scrambler. I'll explain as soon as we get goin'."

The three friends ran straight to the exit of the hideout, Sonic leading the way with Aurora moaning softly. Sonic gently gripped her, letting her know she was in safe hands at last. He just hoped these people at the Healing Brook could help her...

* * *

(Are you in suspense once again, my loyal readers? "What'll happen next?" you may ask. That's for me to know and for you all to find out on the next chapter. See ya and God bless.)


	15. An Egg-ceptional Victory

**Chapter 15: An Egg-ceptional Victory**

In the starry moonlit sky, Tails flew the X-Tornado straight for Healing Brook, using the coordinates Sonic learned from Shadow. In the back, Aurora was in the back seat, with Sonic and Knuckles next to her on each side, riding on the jet.

"How's she holding up, Sonic?" Tails called.

Sonic heard tiny breaths coming from her and answered, "Her breathing's still shallow."

"I can't believe she used the Chaos Emerald like that," Knuckles remarked quietly after hearing what Sonic had told him and Tails.

"That explains why Eggman wanted her," Sonic put in. Although, he wondered how Eggman knew about her energy at all, but right now he was more concerned about getting Aurora some help.

Finally, Tails found the forest Shadow was talking about and announced, "There it is." After landing outside of the trees, Sonic carefully picked up Aurora bridal style and dashed through the trees with Knuckles and Tails in pursuit.

Suddenly, the three heard a voice of a young fellow. "Halt! Who goes there?" Out of the shadows came Ryan, who pointed an arrow as a warning if they made any wrong moves.

"We come in peace," Sonic pledged. "Our friend Shadow sent us."

"You know Shadow?" Ryan asked surprised as he lowered his arrow.

"Yes, he said that you can help Aurora," he nodded, motioning his head to her in his arms.

"Aurora?" he echoed in confusion, then he gasped when he saw how hurt she was.

"Please, can't your healer help her?" Sonic asked with pleading eyes.

"Yes, he can, but he won't be the only one. Follow me." Ryan led them all to the village where Ryan saw Thomas outside of his tent.

"Thomas!" Ryan called, "Healer Thomas!"

"Ryan, what is it?" Thomas asked in concern when he heard the slight fear in his young friend's voice.

"Aurora's here with new frirends," Ryan explained showing the new visitors to him, "Shadow sent them because she's terribly hurt."

Thomas saw for himself and also gasped in shock. "Oh, my. How did this...?"

"A guy named Eggman used her because she has some sort of energy and he used a Chaos Emerald to enhance it, but it's taken a lot out of her," Sonic answered.

Thomas was quiet for a second, and to Sonic, it looked like he didn't find his story hard to believe at all. "Ryan, get all the other Healers," Thomas instructed. "She needs all of our powers."

"Powers?" Knuckles repeated when Ryan left to get the Healers.

"You'll see in a moment," Thomas replied, then stretched his arms to Sonic. "If I may."

Sonic nodded and handed Aurora to him as the other Healers followed Ryan to Thomas's tent.

"My fellow Healers, this girl is in great need of our gifts," Thomas told them all. "We must unite our powers to help."

He led the others to the middle of the village and gently put Aurora on the ground as the Healers gathered around her. Then their hands glowed green as they touched Aurora from head to toe.

Sonic and the others stared in awe as the strange magical doctors did their work.

"Whoa... Look at that," Tails said softly.

"That's what he meant by powers," Knuckles added.

"Ryan, will they be able to save her?" Tails asked worriedly.

"Yes, they will," he nodded confidently, "They've always saved an injured patient."

"In that case, Knuckles, we need you to stay with Aurora," Sonic asked the echidna, then turned to Tails, "You and I need to get back to Sunset Canyon. Shadow might need help scrambling that Egg-Scrambler."

"Right," Tails nodded and followed Sonic out of the village.

"Good luck, guys," Knuckles said watching them leave.

Finally, the Healers' hands stopped glowing and stood up from the girl. "It is done," Thomas announced. "She is going to be all right."

"Thank goodness," Knuckles sighed in relief, then noticed she was still unconscious. "But why isn't she waking up?"

"Although she is healed, she is exhausted from what she has been through," Thomas explained. "A good rest is what she needs now."

"We can lend you a tent for her to sleep in," Ryan offered.

"Thanks, appreciate it, really," Knuckles said, then gently lifted Aurora in his arms. She moaned a little at first, but he rubbed her shoulder to calm her, then she fell asleep again with a small smile.

"Where did the other two go?" Thomas asked, meaning Sonic and Tails.

"They went back to get Shadow," Knuckles answered.

"Where is he at, anyway?" Thomas queried. "And how did this happen?"

"It's a long story," Knuckles replied as he followed Ryan to an empty tent.

* * *

Back in Sunset Canyon, Shadow had managed to sneak from top to bottom of Eggman's hideout undetected and found the Egg-Scrambler at last. The thing was huge and he wondered how he was going to stop it. Then he felt the ground shaking and the window above the machine opened to the vast night sky.

"Oh, no, he's about to take it outside," Shadow said with slight horror in his voice. He jumped to the bottom of the contraption and climbed up to the side. Then he heard Eggman announcing from the helm, taking his machine inflight. "Now...let's go out and tell the world who it's new master is."

_Not if I can help it, Eggman._ Shadow found an opening in the machine through a vent and went inside. He wanted to find the generator of the machine so he could stop it. He just hoped he could find it on time.

* * *

On their way back to Sunset Canyon, Sonic and Tails could see the flying, giant red machine flying in the air.

"Whoa!" Tails cried in amazement. "Is that the Egg-Scrambler?"

"Yeah, and Eggman's ready to give it a test run," Sonic replied, "Get me as close as you can."

Tails nodded and flew nearby the Egg-Scrambler for Sonic to jump off of the X-Tornado and onto the destructive machine. "Be careful, Sonic," Tails called.

Sonic gave Tails a thumbs-up and a wink and said, "Where's the fun in that?" He took off into the machine and found Shadow on his way into the center of the Egg-Scrambler. He ran next to him and said, "Well, there you are."

Shadow turned and was surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?" he demanded as he ran, "You were supposed to take Aurora to Healing Brook."

"And we did," Sonic reassured calmly, "The Healers are taking care of her and Knuckles is with her. We came back 'cause I thought you could use a hand."

Shadow nodded, grateful that he'd done what he asked him to do and that he returned to aid him. With Shadow leading the way, he announced, "We have to find the engine for this thing and destroy it." Sonic followed Shadow into the heart of the Egg-Scrambler and saw the large house-sized generator that was working the machine.

"Ready to take this thing down?" Sonic asked with a ready fist.

"Now more than ever," Shadow replied. Then they rolled themselves into speedy balls, going through the generator and leaving holes all over the thing making it look like Swiss cheese.

Outside of the Egg-Scrambler, Tails saw that it was starting to go down. "All right, Sonic and Shadow did it!" he cheered.

At the helm, Eggman also noticed that his machine was flying itself down. "What happening?!" he shouted.

Next second, Sonic and Shadow bursted through the Egg-Scrambler into the open air and landed on Tails's jet's wings. As they flew away, Sonic waved at the bewildered Dr. Eggman who watched them go.

"Grr... Curse you, hedgehog!" he bellowed to the skies.

"That never fails to amuse me," Sonic remarked with satisfaction.

"That takes care of that," Shadow nodded. "Let's get back to Healing Brook."

"Roger," Tails replied, taking the X-Tornado to the village.

"So, the reason they're a hidden village is because they have powers, right?" Sonic queried referring to the Healers?"

Shadow nodded, keeping his eyes on the horizon. "We promised Ryan and Thomas we wouldn't tell anyone, but I had to break it..."

"Hey, I'm sure Ryan and Thomas understand," Sonic reassured. "And like you said, Aurora's life depended on it."

Shadow looked up to the sky, his eyes full of regret of what'd happened to her tonight. "I just wish I'd stayed with her at G.U.N."

"At least we saved her," Tails pointed out positively. "And you guys stopped the Egg-Scrambler."

"And we found out what Eggman wanted her for," Sonic concluded. "We know why she's so special."

"Hmm...yes, we do," Shadow nodded, thoughtfully. However, he couldn't help but wonder how Aurora had something that made her so special... But whatever the reason, at least it helped her save him and Sonic so they could stop Eggman's plans once again.

* * *

Back in the Healing Brook, Aurora laid under the covers of a tent with Knuckles knelt next to her. He couldn't believe what she'd went through, but he was glad she was strong enough to come out alive. He placed his large gloved hand on her forehead as he said, "You've got more in you than we thought. You were able to free yourself and use the Chaos Emerald to stop that giant robot." He grinned, impressed with what she'd done tonight. "To think, you went from being a timid kid to a jungle girl to a warrior. Being on Mobius really has changed you."

Outside of the tent, Shadow came with Sonic and Tails following him. Thomas looked to see his black-and-red friend again and smiled.

"Shadow, there you are," the old Healer greeted. "Good news: Aurora is fully healed."

"Thank you," Shadow replied sincerely, then gave him an apologetic look, "And I'm sorry for breaking my promise."

"We understand, Shadow," Thomas told him, "You did what was right for her. Come, I'm sure you'll want to see her. She's in a tent with Knuckles watching over her. You see, even though we've all healed her, she's very tired and still unconscious. But she should wake up by tomorrow."

Shadow nodded as the three followed him. "That's good to hear."

Knuckles turned around when he heard footsteps outside and saw that it was Shadow who had returned with Sonic and Tails. "Glad you guys are back," he grinned, standing up. "Is the Egg-Scrambler destroyed?"

"Yep, Shadow and Sonic took care of it and Eggman wasn't too happy about it," Tails explained.

"Which made it a mission complete," Sonic added which made Knuckles grin.

Shadow's gaze was glued to Aurora who lay still under the covers. Knuckles saw this and asked, "You wanna stay with her 'til she wakes up?" Shadow nodded, then Knuckles rubbed the back of his head as he spoke again. "And, uh...listen, I'm sorry that I yelled at you a while ago. I shouldn't have. After all, I felt guilty when I had to send Aurora away, too, so..."

Shadow nodded in understanding and he knew that they both cared for her. "What's important is: Eggman's been stopped and Aurora's going to be fine," Shadow said.

"Would you look at this, Tails? Knuckles apologizing to Shadow," Sonic teased, getting a slightly annoyed swipe Knuckles, which he dodged and laughed at.

"Come, we have a tent for the three of you," Thomas said, leading the way.

"Thanks, Thomas," Tails replied following him with Sonic and Knuckles.

Shadow walked up to Aurora and knelt down next to her. He was very relieved to know she was going to be okay and that he didn't lose her, too...

"You were very strong tonight," he whispered, stroking the girl's hair. "Thank you. If you hadn't helped us, Mobius would be in danger."

Aurora shifted a little bit at his touch and she wondered who it was since it wasn't Knuckles, then relaxed when she figured out it was Shadow, then relaxed again with a smile.

* * *

(I'm sorry of this chapter was too short, but I hope it's still a good one for you all. What'll happen next? Well, a lot of things are gonna change for Aurora and the others once again. Wait 'til the next chapter. God bless.)


	16. Finding a New Home

**Chapter 16: Finding A New Home**

Sunrise rose brightly in the blue sky over the village of Healing Brook that was beginning to stir with birds chirping to tell the villagers "good morning" and flowers around the area blooming to bring back colors around the green grass.

In the tent Aurora was sleeping in, the sunlight found its way through the door way and brought gentle warmth on her cheeks until it touched her eyes that made them flutter. She woke up to see her unfamiliar surroundings.

_Wh-where am I? _she asked as she looked around and saw Shadow next to her who was sitting cross-legged in his sleep.

She tilted her head, wondering what happened after she passed out. She remembered being hurt one minute, carried in people's arms, and then felt a lot of hands touching her as her wounds went away. That was when she knew where she was: Healing Brook.

_They've must've brought me to the Healers. I sure owe the good people here, but mostly Sonic and the others._

She smiled at Shadow who was still sleeping. She felt flattered that he'd stayed with her like this all night, but also very grateful that he and the others saved her and that she was able to do the same for them.

She also knew that if he was here, then that meant that the Egg-Scrambler was destroyed. She wanted to know how they did it. It was a really big machine, after all.

After a few moments, Shadow began to open his eyes at last. "Nice to see you're up," Aurora said, using the same words he gave her when they first met.

"Hmm?" Shadow looked up to see the red-head awake, looking much better than last night.

"Morning," she smiled.

"Good morning," he grinned. "How do you feel?"

"I feel really good. I can only guess where we're at. Healing Brook?"

He nodded. "The Healers were the only ones who could help you."

"They're not upset you brought Sonic and the others with, are they?" she asked, remembering they'd promised not to tell anyone about the hidden village.

"No, they understood."

"I'm glad to hear that," she sighed in relief. "I'm also guessing you guys successfully demolished the Egg-Scrambler, right?"

"Mm-hmm," he nodded with a pleased grin, "And Eggman wasn't happy that we broke his new toy."

"Aw..." Aurora replied with fake sympathy. "Well, that'll teach him not to play nicely."

"Most definitely," Shadow chuckled.

"I knew you guys could beat that awful machine."

"It's thanks to you. If you hadn't broken out of the tube and saved us from the Mega Egg-Droid, everything would've been lost."

Aurora grinned, dipping her head. "Glad I could help. Say, where is Blue Wonder and the guys, anyway?"

"They're in another tent."

"Well, why don't we go see them?" Aurora suggested getting up. "By the sounds outside, everyone's beginnin' to wake up."

Shadow nodded and followed her out of the tent to see everyone going on with their usual daily lives. Aurora had to say, it seemed like a really peaceful place, people working together, raising happy children, everyone looking out for each other. This was like a dream village and Aurora wished everyone in this and her world that people could live in blissful harmony.

_Of course, these people are unknown to the world... _she reminded herself sadly, but she turned her attention back to her friends. "I wonder if they're up yet."

"I believe they are," Shadow said, pointing to a bunch of children who were playing with Sonic with Tails and Knuckles sitting and watching. Sonic ran from the kids who were chasing him, but he ran slowly to give them a sporting chance. Then they made a grab for him and pulled him to the ground, making Sonic grin and lean his chin on his hand when he looked at them laughing.

"Having fun, Blue Wonder?" Aurora called.

"Huh?" Sonic looked to Aurora waving at him with Shadow at her side. "Hey, you're up!" he cried moving himself from under the kids and came up to embrace her.

"It's so good to see you," Aurora said, giving him an affectionate squeeze. She'd missed the blue hedgehog for several days and was happy to have a better reunion than last night.

"Same here," he agreed.

"Aurora!" Tails called, going up to her.

"Hey, Tails," she smiled, hugginig the yellow fox. "Oh, I've missed you guys."

"We've missed you, too," Tails replied.

"Hey, kid," said Knuckles who walked up to them.

"Hey, Knuckles." To the echidna's surprise, she hugged him, too. He wasn't used to hugging and Aurora had a hunch about that, too, but she couldn't help embrace him, anyway. She'd been worried about him ever since she left Angel Island and was happy to see him well. He just grinned and returned the hug, much to Sonic and Tails's amazement.

"Great to see you. How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Wonderful," she answered.

"That's good to hear," Sonic replied.

"You sure took a number back there," Tails added with a concerned look in his eyes when he remembered how bad she looked last night.

"Yeah, we were really worried," Knuckles agreed.

"I know," she said with a regretful expression, "I wish I could've gotten away when Eggman came to G.U.N. H.Q., but at least you guys destroyed the Egg-Scrambler."

"We were only able to destroy it because of you," Sonic reminded her.

"Yeah, Sonic told us how you used the Chaos Emerald to save them," Tails said in amazement.

"Wish we could've seen it," Knuckles concluded.

"Well, don't expect me to do it again anytime soon," Aurora disagreed, looking away. "That Chaos Emerald was too much for me." As incredible as it was to her, Aurora didn't want to experience that kind of pain again.

"Not to mention being inside that tube also drained your energy," Shadow put in.

"By the way, how'd you break out of that tube in the first place?" Sonic asked curiously.

"Well, when I saw you and Shadow hurt and unconscious," she explained, "all I wanted was to stop Eggman from hurting anyone else. Then I felt my strength come back and the next thing I knew, I was free with the Chaos Emerald in my hand feeling even stronger. I didn't know exactly what I was doing, but I knew that the Mega Egg-droid had to be destroyed. Then I started taking that robot apart with a metal bar. When I gave the emerald back to Shadow, I felt my energy go away again and passed out."

"Wow..." Tails replied in awe. "To think, a human could work a Chaos Emerald like that."

"Yeah, because humans couldn't work an emerald. Plus, it hurts them," Knuckles added.

"Believe me, I know," Aurora assured, remembering the great pain she received from the emerald. "Eggman did say that I have a special energy that he used to charge his Egg-Scrambler, but he needed the Chaos Emerald to enhance it."

"What kind of energy?" Tails asked.

"Eggman didn't say," she replied sadly, "Although, when Shadow and I met Ryan and Thomas, they sensed something inside me. Something good. They couldn't explain how, but they just knew it was good. I guess they meant my special energy."

"But how can they sense your special energy?" Sonic queried.

"Well, that's quite simple," said Thomas who came to greet them. "Although some of us have healing powers and some of us don't, one thing we can all do is sense things like your special energy. However, even though we didn't tell you this yesterday, this sort of thing is what we would call an aura. We sense auras in not just people, but animals and even trees and rocks."

"You can?" she gasped in amazement.

"Exactly how is that simple?" Tails murmured to Knuckles who shrugged. It did seem complicated to them, even though they themselves have unique abilities of their own.

Thomas nodded. "When you came last night, your aura seemed stronger than yesterday afternoon since it was used. Stronger than any person's aura we've ever seen which is why it's not like any human's aura here on Mobius."

Aurora thought for a moment, taking this all in. _My aura's the strongest of all... But how could someone like me have this...? _

"Wait, how can you tell that Aurora's aura isn't like anyone's else's on Mobius?" Sonic asked.

"Because every human on Mobius has the same auras, but hers is different since she's from Earth," he answered.

Aurora's head was low again in thought.

"What's wrong, Aurora?" Sonic asked her.

"I know how these villagers can tell about my aura, but I'd like to know how Eggman found out about it. He said he did some scanning on me when I came here and discovered my aura...but how did he learn how useful my aura is to begin with?"

"Well, Eggman does have his ways," Tails replied in thought.

"Do you suppose he'll still want my aura?" Aurora asked worriedly.

"Knowin' him, it's a definite possibility," Knuckles answered grimly.

"No, not a possibility. He definitely still wants your aura," Shadow corrected. "If your aura was strong enough to power a machine with a Chaos Emerald, he'll try to find you again."

Aurora was scared. She didn't want to be a part of that mad doctor's plans again and wondered if there was a way to make him think he can't use her aura anymore, then she had an idea. "What if he can't ever get his hands on a Chaos Emerald?" she suggested. "If he doesn't have a Chaos Emerald, my aura wouldn't be able to help much."

"That's true," Sonic agreed, rubbing his chin in thought, "He needed a Chaos Emerald to enhance your aura. If he didn't have anything to enhance it, your aura couldn't benefit him."

"So why don't we keep the Chaos Emeralds far away from him?" Aurora put in. "You know, lock them away somewhere? What about Angel Island?"

"Yeah, we could do that," Knuckles agreed. "I've got hidden treasures that are located secretly in the island. We could hide all the emeralds there."

"But the tricky part is finding all of the Chaos Emeralds," Tails pointed out.

"Hey, we've done that sort of thing before many times," Sonic reassured with a thumbs-up and a wink, "We can find them all again."

"Yes, but the bigger question is: What will we do with Aurora?" Shadow asked. "He'll be looking for her, too, as I said."

"Perhaps you can hide here with us, Aurora," Thomas offered. "After all, we are a hidden village. No one's found us except for you and your four friends here. You'd be safe here."

Aurora thought about it, but she decided it wouldn't be the best idea and shook her head. "I appreciate what your offer, Thomas, but I can't do that. Eggman has his ways of finding me and if he discovers me here, he'll destroy your village to get to me. And I don't want to put you all and your home in danger." _I mean, Knuckles could've lost his home trying to protect me and Omega got really hurt doing the same at G.U.N. H.Q. _

Thomas nodded respectfully, "I understand, Aurora."

"But you have to hide somewhere," Tails told her. "Knothole, Angel Island, and G.U.N. aren't safe, either."

Just then, Shadow eyes lit up when he had an idea. "I think I know the place," he announced, "There's a really old house outside of G.U.N.'s borders. It's in the mountains about 500 miles away. No one's been there for a very long time. You can stay there until we lock away all of the Chaos Emeralds."

"Hold on, are you saying Aurora'll have to stay there by herself?" Knuckles questioned doubtfully, then looked at Aurora. "Not that I don't think you can be in a house alone. I'm just not comfortable if there's no one to be there for you."

"Hey, I've been alone before," Aurora smirked confidently, "I can do it again." Although, Knuckles still wasn't sure.

"Then you agree?" Shadow asked her.

"If it's the only safe spot for me," Aurora nodded.

"Then come on, let's get going," Shadow said, leading the way out of the village.

"Hold on a moment," Thomas asked. "Before you go, we would just like to say good-bye and thank you. You all defeated this Eggman and his machine. If you hadn't, everything would've been lost."

"Well, you're welcome, Thomas," Sonic replied, then patted Aurora's pack, "but I think most of the credit goes to Aurora. Shadow and I were only able to stop Eggman's Egg-Scrambler because she saved us."

"Oh, well..." Aurora blushed.

"True, you are the reason Shadow and Sonic saved us," Thomas agreed, then took Aurora's hand. "Thank you. You really are a unique person."

Aurora blushed even harder. "You're welcome."

"Lookin' a little red there, aren't ya, Aurora?" Sonic teased.

"Yeah, you almost look like me," Knuckles laughed.

"Oh, stop, would you, please?" Aurora scowled playfully, making everyone else laugh. Turning back to Thomas, she added, "But I should be the one thanking you and the other Healers. If it wasn't for you all, I wouldn't be alive."

"Quite welcome, Aurora," he said, "but I believe your friends deserve most of the credit on that one. After all, it was they who found you and brought you here."

Aurora looked at her furry friends and smiled. "True," she agreed which made Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles look away bashfully.

* * *

Aurora and her short friends waved good-bye to Thomas, Ryan, and everyone else in the village who wished them all good luck and hoped they could see them all again soon. After they walked out of the forest, they found the X-Tornado and discussed what to do next.

"I think I should take Aurora to the mountains to look at the house while you three take this Chaos Emerald to Angel Island and lock it away," Shadow instructed, pulling out his yellow emerald.

"Hold it, if you're runnin' over there, I'd like to come along," Sonic pronounced.

"This isn't a field trip, Sonic," Shadow told him firmly.

"I know it's not. I just want to check it out, too," he insisted, "Besides, I'd like to at least know the route to the mountains to this house Aurora'll be stayin' at."

"Fine, then you two will be taking the emerald," Shadow said to Tails and Knuckles, tossing the emerald that the red guardian caught in his hand.

"I know the perfect place for it," Knuckles replied, then hopped on the X-Tornado. "Let's go, Tails." Tails nodded and climbed up the pilot's seat. "See you guys, soon," Knuckles acknowledged to Aurora and the hedgehogs.

"We'll meet you later after we hide the emerald," Tails said as the jet's engine started and took off into the cloudy sky.

"Bye, guys," Aurora called, waving at them as they left.

"So, this house is in which direction?" Sonic queried.

"500 miles due north," Shadow answered, lifting Aurora in his arms. "Come on."

Both hedgehogs took off into the north, making Aurora hang on to Shadow's shoulders, wondering how she could forget his speed when he'd carried her yesterday. Although, she felt a little less afraid of his movement and started to analyze his speed to Sonic's who was keeping up really well next to them. _Shadow was right. Their speeds do match. _

Along the way, they could see G.U.N. which was badly damaged with several broken windows and torn down debris and rubble scattered on the ground around the building.

"Whoa, G.U.N.'s in really bad shape," Sonic remarked.

"Thanks to Eggman," Shadow added dryly.

Aurora couldn't help feeling responsible for this. It was her that the mad doctor was after that made him attack G.U.N. "Wait a minute, what about Omega?" she asked worriedly. "Last I saw him, he was banged up badly."

"Rouge is with him. The mechanics should be taking care of him," Shadow explained.

Aurora looked away, feeling very sorry for the poor robot who tried hard to defend her.

"Don't worry, Aurora," Sonic assured her, running closer to them, "Omega's like Shadow in a way. It's hard to get rid of that guy."

"Yes, Omega is a tough robot," Shadow commented with a grin.

"I'm glad to know that," Aurora replied, feeling relieved. She still wished Omega didn't get hurt. _Huh, wishing a robot didn't get hurt. Anyone who knew what I was thinking would laugh. Well, he is like a person. He thinks of Shadow and Rouge as his friends. Even a machine like him can have a soul._

After several miles of non-stop running, they could finally make out the tall rocks on the horizon. "There are the mountains," Shadow announced. When they got closer, they could see how beautiful it looked with the incredible trees covering the magnificent mountains in complete green. The mountains looked so high, they could almost reach the sky itself if they didn't need a Master Emerald like Angel Island did. As they ran through the trees, Aurora looked at the beautiful foliage above her and saw the sunlight flashing from each branch.

"Shadow, what is this place called?" Aurora asked curiously.

"It's called Forgotten Peak," Shadow answered. "It's because no one's visited these mountains in many, many years, which is why I think it'd be a good place for you to stay."

Then they stopped in a large, very grassy clearing and saw a very old, big gray-and-black house in the middle. When they got closer, they could see the painting almost completely chipped away and the roof was full of holes and the squeaking on the patio definitely gave away its ancient age.

"Whoa, it really is abandoned," Aurora remarked as the walked on the patio to the beaten up door.

"Exactly how long has it been since someone's lived here?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, like a few decades or over a century?" Aurora added.

"A few decades," Shadow answered, although the place did look over two centuries older. Aurora opened the door to see dust and cobwebs everywhere and saw that the furniture was wrapped in white sheets, which she thought was a good thing to keep them fresh.

Shadow tried to work the light switch, but it didn't work which was no wonder considering the place was abandoned.

"I'll betcha Tails could get the electricity back on," Sonic proclaimed

"Here's the kitchen," Aurora said, stepping through the living room to the kitchen that was at the back of the house and it looked just as old and dirty as the living room, but thankfully when Aurora turned on the faucet, the water was running. "Let's see what the upstairs has to offer," she announced, beginning to walk up the steps that led to the second floor.

"Watch where you step," Sonic warned her, "We don't know if the upstairs' floors are still strong."

Aurora gently placed a foot on the floorboard at the top step. "Feels strong to me," she shrugged. They took a look at the upstairs and found two bedrooms and a bathroom, which were good things to have. As they were looking, Aurora asked, "Say, Shadow, what exactly lives in the mountains?"

"Not much, just the usual birds and squirrels."

"Is that all?" she questioned, "No raccoons or possums or poisonous reptiles?"

"Not sure," he replied, "but now that you mention it, let's check to make sure this place doesn't have any unwanted guests."

* * *

After inspecting this place from top to bottom, the three stepped outside in the yard to make out their report.

"Well, the place seems clean...of pests, that is," Sonic deduced.

"But as far as dust and dirt is concerned, not so much," Aurora added, "However, it'll look better with a lot of cleaning up."

"And with some redecorating," Sonic finished, eyeing the not so gorgeous house.

"Other than that, I think this is the perfect place to hide," Aurora said.

"Then it's decided," Shadow nodded, "but I don't think we should have you staying here until it's fixed up, which should take us 2 or 3 days."

"So where should we hide her until then?" Sonic asked.

"Eggman should still have a lot of time to patch things up from our last fight, which should take him at least maybe a week or less," Shadow guessed, "So I think Aurora can stay either in Knothole or Angel Island, just until we're done with this house."

"That's good. Wait, you don't want her at G.U.N.?" Sonic queried.

"G.U.N.'s in too bad of shape for her to stay there after what Eggman did to it."

Aurora wasn't disappointed. I mean, she's sorry the place was messed up, but she didn't want to stay over there again, not at that gloomy unwelcomed place.

"Well, Aurora, you wanna stay with us in Knothole or with Knuckles on Angel Island?" Sonic asked her.

Aurora rubbed her arm shyly and answered, "Well, I have been missing Angel Island ever since I left, so..."

"All right, then, Angel Island it is," Sonic pronounced. Aurora was glad they'd found a place for her to stay, but honestly, even though she was used to being alone...she wasn't all that happy of not having the others around when they were done with the place. It'd been a while since she'd been able to spend time with them peacefully, but she also knew it was just temporary until they find and hide all of the Chaos Emeralds to keep Eggman from wanting to use them to enhance Aurora's aura again. She just hoped that that would stop him right there and then...

_Still, what about my aura... Why do I have it? And...will I ever be able to work it myself again...?_

* * *

(I'm sorry that this chapter is also short, but I do have good news: The next chapter will be really, really long. The bad news is: It's also gonna be the last chapter. I know some of you all like this story and I appreciate ya for that, but I also have a surprise for you guys at the end of my last chapter. What is it? I can't tell you. It's a surprise! ;) Anyway, see ya, then. God bless.)


	17. Catch Ya Later

**Chapter 17: Catch Ya Later!**

Shortly after Sonic, Shadow, and Aurora inspected the old house in Forgotten Peak, they met up with Tails and Knuckles again and Tails flew them back to drop Aurora and Knuckles off on Angel Island. The echidna was happy and grateful that she decided to come back and stay with him for a little while longer. He'd said good-bye to her too soon when he had to send her away from the island to protect her from Eggman's Egg-droids.

They were both sitting on the Master Emerald's pedestal at the bottom of the stairs, basking in the warm sunlight. "It's great to see this place again," Aurora said, stretching her arms, leaning on the step behind her. "I tell you, staying at G.U.N. was no fun. The soldiers made me feel uneasy."

"Yeah, the G.U.N. officers aren't the kind of guys you'd love hangin' out with," Knuckles agreed.

"I'm just glad the G.U.N.'s mechanics are helping Omega's get better," Aurora confided. "I felt realy bad when Eggman hurt him."

Knuckles grinned sympathetically and patted her arm. "Hey, there's no need to feel guilty. Omega's a survivor, like the rest of us. Shadow and Rouge'll make sure G.U.N. gets him back on his feet."

Aurora smiled gratefully. "I hope so. For a robot, he's pretty nice. Loyal, too."

"Yeah, gotta give him credit for that."

"And Shadow seems to be the same way," she added.

"Then you're lucky," he remarked, "Shadow's not always...easy to get along with. He's rarely friendly with others."

"Well, from what he told me, after he lost two friends of his, it's no surprise. At least he still has Omega and Rouge.

"If you want to think of that as a good thing," Knuckles grunted, "Having Rouge around, I mean. That bat can make other people batty themselves."

Aurora grinned. Even though she knew he had issues with Rouge, she knew deep down that he cared for her. "Yeah, but despite her...various flaws, she seems to care about others, even if she doesn't always show it."

"She seems to hide it very well," Knuckles grumbled.

"By the way, where'd you and Tails hide the Chaos Emerald?" Aurora asked curiously.

"Sorry, top secret," he apologized. "Not even Tails knows."

"I understand." She guessed it was good for other people's sake that Knuckles should be the only one knowing the emerald's location.

"But it's well hidden," he assured her, "Eggman will never be able to find it."

"That's good to hear. We just need to find six more, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, there are supposedly seven of them."

Aurora thought for a moment and remembered that Shadow had always had that yellow emerald with him.

"Say, if Shadow had an emerald of his own, that means he can use Chaos Control, too, right? Just like Sonic?" Aurora deduced.

"Yeah, also, what I never told you is that when they have all seven Chaos Emeralds together, they both turn super and glow in a golden light."

"Wow..." she gasped. "Those two really are unique hedgehogs, huh?"

"In a way, yeah. Hard to catch up and deal with, though," he put in, then gently nudged her, "Although, as much patience as I have with others."

"You seem patient enough with me," she pointed out.

"Well, you're the first person who doesn't annoy me. Or at least doesn't try to."

Aurora smiled in flattery and hugged her knees.

"I have to tell you, not having you on Angel Island was a little lonely," he confessed, "Which is weird because I've always been used to having this place to myself, but ever since you showed up, things got a little more interesting."

Aurora grinned bashfully, looking away. "I'm glad I've been good company to you."

Knuckles smiled and ruffled her hair. "From what I've learned, you're good company to anyone. I mean, you got Shadow to like you. If that doesn't make you good company, I don't know what will."

Aurora smiled as she straightened her hair. "It'll be sure lonely being by myself in the mountains," she admitted. "I've always been a loner myself, but when I came here and met you guys, I've been a little...happier."

Knuckles smirked. "Glad to hear it. But didn't you ever have friends on Earth?"

"Well, yes, but they're usually too busy to talk to me anymore and I've been wanting to be left alone more, so... However...it is good to have people coming to keep me company for a change."

"Well, Sonic and the others in Knothole aren't loners like the two of us," Knuckles explained, "They enjoy making friends. They're always one for company. And since you're someone from Earth and that you don't have anyone here other than them, I guess they felt you shouldn't be alone. Otherwise, you'd feel homesick most of the time.

"As for me, well, as the Guardian, I had to make sure you'd keep your promise and follow the rules around here. And as I got to know you, I could see you're someone anyone can trust and talk to."

Aurora smiled as he continued. "And it was a lot of fun teaching you things like climbing trees and herbs. And..." With a fiendish smirk, he had Aurora on the ground and started tickling her sides.

"Oh, hey, wait!" she begged while laughing hysterically, "This is uncalled for! Stop it!"

Knuckles seized and sat down on the step with a big smile. "...it's really fun doing that, too," he concluded.

"You know," she huffed, getting back up, "I should really give Sonic my gratitude for telling you that I'm ticklish. I just hope he won't tell the others."

"Knowin' him, he might," Knuckles said, making her groan and making him chuckle.

"Are you ever this playful around the others?" she asked him with a hand on her forehead.

"When I know they're ticklish, I am," he answered with a playful grin.

"Figures," she sighed, but smiled, "I wonder how they're doing with that house in the mountains."

* * *

Back on Forgotten Peak, Sonic and Tails have gathered Amy, Cream, and Cheese to help out with redecorating and refurbishing the old house and Shadow brought Rouge with him. Inside the house, after it was cleaned up of most of the dust and cobwebs, Tails was working on restoring the electricity. After playing with the wires for a bit, he managed to get the lights to turn on.

"That should give Aurora enough power," Tails proclaimed.

"Good job, Tails," Sonic commented. "I'm gonna go see how Amy and Cream are doing outside." He stepped out to see the girls painting the walls of the house, giving it a better look.

"Do you think Aurora'll like these colors on her new house?" Cream asked Amy.

"Well, she told us her favorite colors are pink, purple, and red," Amy reminded her. "I'm sure she'll like it."

Sonic took a look at their work and had to admit, it was coming along nicely. "Hey, that's not bad, you guys," he told them.

"Thank you, Sonic," Cream replied.

"How's it going inside?" Amy asked.

"Tails just got the electricity workin'. And we're still cleaning the place up and fixing it."

"Sonic, could I ask you to do something for me, please?" Cream asked politely.

"Sure, Cream, what is it?" He saw that she had a bag in her hand and pulled out a beautiful glass vase.

"My mother and I picked this out for Aurora's house. I was wondering if you could find some flowers to put in," she hoped.

"No problem, Cream. I know just the perfect flowers. Be right back." Just like that, he zoomed like a blue blur, leaving a gust of wind behind him.

"Nice to know he gets the easiest job," Rouge commented sarcastically, helping Shadow fix the roof. "How long do you think it'll take for us to get this place into shape?"

"We're not that far from done," Shadow answered as he worked, "Between today and tomorrow."

"Shadow, are you sure you want Aurora to stay here in these mountains?" she queried.

"No one comes here, so it should be fine. But to be on the safe side, I'll make sure to visit her every evening and check on her."

"Well, that's reassuring," she replied.

"And I'll show her more self-defense moves, just in case."

"Just hope that poor kid can survive. From your teachings, I mean," she teased.

Shadow, though normally he would've been annoyed at her remarks, just grinned. "She's tough. At least she never complains about it."

"Huh, well, I guess that makes sense," she said, "Anyone who can hang with your or Knuckles without complaining must be tough."

"Maybe, which means she might like being with you, too," he retorted playfully.

"Oh, ha ha," she mocked. "It's weird how you're funny when no one wants you to. But I would like to spend more time with her, though. I only saw her once. Omega told me she seems like a pretty nice person."

"She is," Shadow nodded.

"She's pretty interesting, too," Rouge added, "I mean, she's from Earth and she used a Chaos Emerald like you and Sonic can."

"Yes...that is definitely interesting," Shadow agreed thoughtfully.

"I wonder how she can do that."

"It has something to do with her aura," he explained, "The special aura the Healers were talking about. They said it's a very good aura even though it doesn't belong in this world... It makes me very curious that a human's aura can help work a Chaos Emerald."

"Do you think she should work it again so we can understand why?" she asked.

"No," he replied firmly, "Last time, she nearly died. We're not risking it again. Her aura maybe special, but she's still a human. You know how dangerous it is for humans to work Chaos Emeralds."

"Right..." she said, sorry for asking a thing like that. "But what do we do after we find and hide all of the Chaos Emeralds?"

Shadow looked at the sky in thought and said, "We'll have to send her home."

"Huh?" she blinked.

"Even if we hide them, Eggman will try to find a way to use her aura without a Chaos Emerald. As long as Eggman finds her useful, she's not safe in this world. But if she's back in her own world, Eggman can't find her."

"True...but how do you think the others will take it?" she questioned, "I mean, they've known her longer than we have."

"They'll understand. They'll know it's the best thing for her."

"And what about Aurora?"

"I'm sure she'll understand, too." However, he knew how much she wouldn't like saying good-bye to them all, but...he'd rather have her safe in her own world than to have her in danger and hunted in their world by a madman because of her gift. Plus, he knew she would agree since she felt responsible for making them go through all the trouble of rescuing her and hiding her. He knew she'd do the right thing for herself and for everyone. Although, he was going to miss her very much when she returns...

* * *

On the meadow, the one where he'd taken Aurora so long ago, Sonic was picking the loveliest flowers he could that would go nicely in her new vase. While he was picking, he looked at the meadow and remembered when Eggman came to try to take Aurora.

"Can't believe how things got," he told himself, "I mean, one minute, we were having fun in this meadow and the next Eggman comes along. Then Aurora kept going from place to place on Mobius. All because of some aura..."

He hoped that after gathering all of the Chaos Emeralds and keeping them safe and hidden, Aurora would be able to walk in the open freely with him and his friends again.

* * *

Shortly, Sonic arrived back at Forgotten Peak with the flowers he'd promised.

"These are beautiful, Sonic," Cream said, taking the flowers in her hands, "Aurora'll love these."

"I think so, too," he nodded, then looked at the tri-colored on the outside walls, "I also think she'll like the paint job you and Amy did on her house."

"I hope so," Cream replied, then went into the house to put the flowers in the vase.

"Here," Shadow said, tossing a hammer to Sonic who barely caught, "If you're done picking flowers, then you can help me with fixing the roof and walls. There are holes everywhere and we have to nail them in."

"All right, all right. No need to be bossy," Sonic muttered, rolling his eyes at Shadow's usual grouchy attitude, then climbed up on the roof with Shadow who seemed to be lost in thought as they both hammered. "So what's on your mind?" he asked curiously.

Shadow didn't give a response at first as he kept hammering.

"All right, then, forget I asked," Sonic remarked, going back to his own hammering.

Shadow just sighed and came out with it. "I'm just concerned."

"About Aurora?" Sonic guessed. "Don't worry, she's safe with Knuckles. And we're nearly done with this place, anyway."

"No, I'm talking about this aura she has," Shadow corrected. "In the past, humans couldn't work a Chaos Emerald, and yet Aurora comes along and she used one to save us. All because she has a gift that not even the Healers can explain."

"Yeah, I've been thinkin' about that, too," Sonic confessed, putting a hand on his chin in thought. "How can a human's aura work a Chaos Emerald? Well, we know that Eggman knows something about it. He's got information about it."

"Yes, he must," Shadow agreed.

"So I guess as soon as we're done hiding the Chaos Emeralds, we're gonna look for Eggman again, right?"

Shadow nodded. "Unless you know other sources."

Sonic thunk for a moment and thought about three guys who might be able to help. "Well, I could ask Team Chaotix."

"Those guys?" Shadow queried raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, they're good detectives," Sonic persuaded. "And we're gonna need all the help we can get to help find out about Aurora's gift."

"If you insist, but we should still look for Eggman so we can find out when he'll look for Aurora again." As they both kept hammering, Sonic wondered how Aurora was doing on Angel Island right now.

* * *

In the middle of the night on Angel Island, Aurora was sleeping on the couch, tossing and turning, dreaming of being back inside that tube, her energy leaving her body. Sonic came and touched the tube and got shocked again.

"_Sonic_!" she screamed. Then she saw the Mega Egg-droid again and saw it taking down both Sonic and Shadow, this time, destroying them for good. _"No! Sonic! Shadow!" _

"_At last_!" Dr. Eggman laughed evilly, "With those two miserable hedgehogs out of my way, this world is finally mine!"

Aurora sunk on her knees, staring at her stone still friends. _"No, no... Sonic! Shadow!_"

She gasped with horror and woke to see she was back in Knuckles's living room. She shook in fear from that horrible nightmare. She took deep breaths to calm herself. _Easy, Aurora, you know what happened after that. You stopped the Mega E.D. You saved them and they stopped Eggman. Still...seeing those two hurt because of me..._

She got off of the sofa and walked outside, which woke Knuckles up from his bedroom.

"Hmm?" he moaned, seeing Aurora stepping out of the hut from his door.

Aurora sat on the porch, taking in the cool night breeze, looking at the stars above the sky which were closer since they were on an island miles away from Mobius below. She looked at the Master Emerald which glowed from its pedestal. She stared at it, asking herself again why she had something inside her that got her friends into so much trouble. She hugged her knees and put her face on them, feeling vulnerable and confused.

"Aurora." She jumped and turned to see Knuckles standing behind her. "What are you doin' up?"

"Oh, Knuckles, did I wake you? I'm sorry, I'm just not getting a comfortable night's sleep."

"That's all right," he assured, coming next to her. "We all have our rough nights as well as rough days."

Aurora was quiet, looking at the ground in front of her. Knuckles noticed her sad look and asked, "So what made you uncomfortable, anyway?"

Aurora didn't want to talk about it, but she reminded herself she felt better when she told Shadow about her nightmare, so she thought it'd be good to tell Knuckles, too. "I had a nightmare...about Sunset Canyon," she answered hesitatedly, "Being inside that tube that sucked my energy...when Sonic got shocked touching it...when Mega Egg-droid hurt Sonic and Shadow..." She trembled terribly at that memory and hid her face in her knees again.

Knuckles looked at her, feeling sorry she was forced to remember that awful time the other night and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay," he reassured softly, "Remember, you got yourself out of that tube and you saved Sonic and Shadow."

"I know that, but...when I think about them being hurt and trying to help me, I feel so bad."

"There's no need to blame yourself," he told her gently, "Eggman was the one who tried to hurt them, not you. He was the one doing wrongs things and he used other people as his tools. And it's not the first time, believe me." He recalled the many times Eggman had tricked him into helping him with his plans to steal the Chaos Emeralds and get rid of Sonic, and he felt very guilty for putting him and the others in danger countless times. So he understood her situation, although fortunately, she knew better than to listen to Eggman and willingly help him with anything.

"I just wish my aura hadn't put you guys in danger," she confided bringing her face up.

Knuckles wrapped an arm around her shoulder, rubbing his hand on her arm. "It's gonna be all right," he promised. "When we find all of the Chaos Emeralds, things will be better, you'll see."

Aurora looked at him and smiled gratefully. Knuckles was sort of like an uncle to her and she was happy to have his comforting company.

Knuckles grinned and patted her shoulder. "Come on, let's go back to sleep."

Aurora nodded obediently and followed him back into the hut, climbing back into the couch and under the covers. "Night, Knux, and thanks for the talk."

"Sure thing, kid." After he went back into his bedroom, Aurora fell asleep again, resting much easier now.

* * *

The next morning, Aurora decided to walk around the island feeling that today was her last day since Shadow said it'd take him and the others 2 or 3 days until the house is finished and she wanted to take one last look of the place before she had to leave again. At least this time she could say good-bye to Knuckles and Angel Island for real, as much as she didn't want to.

_It sure was fun being here. Climbin' and swingin' from trees and explorin' the island. No wonder Knuckles loves it here._

She took in the high mighty mountain, the refreshing springs and soothing waterfalls that she'd past, and the flourishing vineyard, and the beautiful trees that surrounded her, making her feel safe. At least where she was going there'd still be mountains and trees there. Still she was going to miss this place, but she told herself not to look too down in front of Knuckles, otherwise he'd tickle her again.

_I swear, I should teach the Blue Wonder a lesson for telling Knuckles that I'm ticklish, but what kind of punishment would be good enough?_

While she was plotting, she ran into a vine in front of her. "Huh?" She looked up the tall green line and smirked with a thought in her head and started climbing up the tree. "Why not? For old times' sake," she shrugged once she was on the top branch and started swinging on the vines. She felt free as the wind rushed through her face and hair as she swung from tree to tree.

_Did Tarzan and Jane have it made or what?_

She looked to see Knuckles on the ground below her, and stopped on a branch.

"Hmm?" Knuckles had heard something above him and looked up to see Aurora in the trees. "Well, look who it is, Jungle Girl," he smirked.

"Say, Knuckles, why don't you join me?" she invited, holding a vine for him, "First one to the pedestal wins?"

He chuckled and said, "Okay, you're on." After he climbed up the tree next to her, she gave him the vine and gripped her own. "Ready?"

"Ready," she affirmed determinedly. "Go!" With that, the two red heads swung from their starting branch, with Aurora in the lead.

"Jeez, you're making this look easy," Knuckles huffed, trying to keep up.

"You mean, you've never done this before?" she queried.

"Not really. It never crossed my mind."

"Then it's a good thing we're doin' this now," she replied as she kept swinging away from the echidna and landed in the clearing where the Master Emerald's pedestal was. "All right, I made it!" she cheered.

Knuckles landed next to her with his arms folded and a slightly amused yet annoyed look. "Huh, got lucky 'cause I'm new at vine swinging," he claimed matter-o-factly.

"Maybe so, but we still had fun, that's what matters," she said positively.

"Yeah," he grinned, liking what a good sport she is. Anyone else would've rubbed it in his face.

Aurora looked up to the Master Emerald and began to wonder about something. "Knuckles, do you think the Master Emerald sent me to Shadow on purpose?" she questioned. "So that I could help him and he'd help me?"

"Hmm..." he thought, "Well, I did ask it to send you somewhere safe and you were safe with Shadow. I guess it did. The Master Emerald still has its own mysteries."

Aurora looked at the giant emerald again and wondered if somehow her aura and the Chaos Emeralds were connected since she was able to use one. "It really makes me wonder why my aura was strong enough for me to use a Chaos Emerald."

Knuckles closed his eyes at that. "That's definitely a mystery right there," he agreed.

"...Do you think this aura is a good thing to have?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that... I don't know whether to like it or not," she confided. "All it's done is put me on some psychopath's wanted list, but it still helped me save Sonic and Shadow. Still, if I never had it in the first place, none of this craziness would be happening." She really wasn't sure if she liked her aura or not since all it's done is make her friends go through so much trouble...

"Well, I can't say you should like it," Knuckles spoke, as if he was reading her mind, "but I do think that you should look back at the good things you've gone through. I mean, if it wasn't for you aura, you wouldn't have com here and coming here benefited you. You learned how to climb, how to use herbs, and swing from trees.

"Then you helped Shadow when he needed it. Not to mention, you two saved people from a fire together and he taught you self-defense moves so you can protect yourself when you're on your own. And you two found the Healing Brook where you made special friends who helped you and sensed what makes _you _special. And you learned for yourself, too, by using a Chaos Emerald.

"You've gone through tough times, yes, but you still made friends along the way. You understand what I'm sayin'?"

Aurora thought about what he said and smiled. She did make a lot of good friends, and that was mostly because of her aura that helped her meet them. "Yes, even though I did go through a lot, there are still upsides behind them. And I am grateful for the fun and teachings I've had..." Looking at Knuckles, she added, "And that I've found great people who've been there for me this whole time."

Knuckles grinned. "Glad you feel that way."

Yes, she did make many interesting and amazing friends who've given her the company and fun she'd never had when she was on Earth. She didn't know what brought her to Mobius, but whatever it was, she was grateful for it.

Suddenly, her wrist com beeped. "Hello?" she answered.

"Aurora," Tails said from the other line, "Good news: Your house is all fixed up. You can move in today."

"Really?" Aurora asked in amazement. "Wow, that was fast."

"Wait 'til you see it," Sonic added from the com, "We think you're gonna like it."

"I'm sure I will," she replied.

"Hang on, Sonic and I will come get you," Tails finished.

"Okay."

When Aurora ended the call, she felt a little sad. She knew the others would be done soon, but she didn't think it'd be this soon.

"Well, looks like you're leavin'," Knuckles said.

Aurora nodded, but didn't look at him because she didn't know how to say good-bye to him. In fact, she was going to have to say good-bye to the others, too and it felt too soon...

"That reminds me, follow me," he requested, going into his hut with Aurora close behind.

"What's up, Knux?" she asked, wondering what he was looking for on his shelf.

He pulled out a book and handed it to her. "I wrote this myself. It's a book about herbs. That way, you'll still learn now to work with them and to pass the time in case you're bored."

Aurora took the book and stared at it, touched that he would write a copy of herbs for her. Without another second to think, she leaned down and hugged the echidna, whose eyes were wide in surprise to have her hugging him again. "Thank you, Knuckles...for everything."

Knuckles grinned. He had grown fond of the girl and he was going to miss having her on the island that she'd liked and respected as much as he did. "Sure thing, kid," he said, returning the hug.

* * *

With her bags all packed, Aurora stepped out of the hut with Knuckles beside her as they searched the sky for a jet which appeared from the horizon towards the floating island.

"Hi, Aurora!" Tails called, waving from his pilot's seat.

"Hi, guys!" Aurora called back to Tails and Sonic who landed on the ground.

"Ready to go?" Sonic asked, leaning an arm on one bent knee.

"Mm-hmm," she nodded.

"Knuckles, why don't come along?" Tails invited. "We want you to see the place, too."

"I'd like to, but..." Knuckles started, but Sonic interrupted him.

"Hey, come on, how busy are you just watching one rock?" Sonic teased.

"Uh, let's not tease the Guardian or the emerald," Aurora requested, trying to stop a fight from happening.

"Yeah, let's not," Knuckles agreed sternly, giving Sonic a hard look.

"But I would like it if you did come, Knux," Aurora added, with pleaded eyes.

Knuckles sighed in defeat and grinned. "Okay, okay."

"Thanks," she replied with a smile. If she was going to say good-bye to him, she preferred to do it with everyone else together.

Once the red heads climbed in, Tails took off to the blue sky with Aurora looking back at the island one last time. She was glad to have had a few good moments there with Knuckles for the past day in a half, but she made sure not to look sad in front of the guys, so she quickly turned back to the blue wander in front of her.

"So, guys, how does the house look?" Aurora asked curiously.

"You'll see once we get there. It's a surprise," he said in a sing-songy sort of way.

"We'll be there in no time," Tails called.

Aurora nodded. "By the way," she spoke, glaring at Sonic, "I'd like to thank you for telling Knuckles that I'm ticklish."

"Oh, he tickled you, huh?" Sonic asked nervously with a hand on his head.

"Mm-hmm," Aurora and Knuckles nodded. She gave the blue hedgehog a really hard look for doing such a thing.

"Hey, I thought it'd be good for him to know," he reasoned with his hands raised in surrender, "In case you needed to laugh."

"Which you did need," Knuckles reminded her, ruffling her hair.

"Well, it did make me feel better the first time," she confessed straightening her hair.

"See what I mean?" he asked, giving an "I told you so" shrug.

"Yes, but that doesn't get you off the hook, Blue Wonder" she replied, pointing her finger at him. "I can only guess you told the others I'm ticklish."

"Uh..." Sonic trailed off, giving an innocent smile.

"Did he tell you guys, Tails?" Aurora asked, her arms folded in a scolding manner.

"He might've mentioned it," he answered hesitantly, making Aurora look at Sonic again, who shrugged nervously.

"When you least expect it, Sonic, I am gonna teach you a lesson," she vowed seriously.

"Uh-oh," he replied in slight fear.

"You sure you want to warn him?" Knuckles queried.

"Why not? I'm just giving a sporting chance since we're friends."

"I can live with that," Sonic said, "but it looks like I'm gonna be keepin' my guard up for a while."

"Oh...yes," she replied making Tails and Knuckles laugh.

* * *

After a few minutes, Aurora could see the mountain tips of Forgotten Peak, and raised her head to look for the house which was insight of her view. She narrowed her eyes to see it had different colors than before, making it look new and young-looking.

"Looks you guys gave the house quite the make-over," Aurora commented.

"Yup, we made it as cozy and decent as possible for ya," Sonic nodded.

"Prepare for landing!" Tails cried, bringing the X-Tornado on the ground a few inches away from the house.

As Aurora got off of the jet, she got a closer look of the place and saw the colors of pink, purple, and red and saw that the boards on the roof and walls were fixed and the windows were clean from grime and dust along with the patio at the front door and the grass in the yard looked like it was mowed.  
"Wow.." she gasped in awe. "I can't believe this is the same old run-down home I saw not too long ago."

"Oh, but it is," Sonic corrected playfully.

"We made a lot of changes to it," Tails added.

"I can see that. It looks brand-new."

"Now that you're here. Guys!" Sonic called to the house. "Guess who's here?"

Someone opened the front door and Aurora could see the sweet little rabbit she hadn't seen in over a week and the adorable pet Chao above her head, both peering to see Aurora who waved at them with a smile.

"Hi, there, Cream, Cheese," she greeted.

"It's Aurora, everyone," Cream said to the people inside and ran up to her with Cheese flying behind her. Aurora bent down with open arms as the young rabbit came and embraced her.

"Oh, it's so good to see you," Aurora said, picking her up and hugging her.

"It's good to see you, too," Cream replied. "We've missed you."

"Me, too. I never got to say good-bye to you and Cheese before I left for Angel Island."

Speaking of the Chao, Cheese flew up to Aurora's head, cooing happily. "Hi, Cheese," she greeted, petting the little guy who nuzzled her face affectionately.

"Aurora!"

Aurora looked to see Amy coming out of the house running to her.

"Hey, Amy." Aurora put Cream down and hugged Amy, who had been her roommate after kindly taking her into her home in Knothole.

"We haven't seen you in forever," Amy said, embracing the girl who'd been a good friend and a sister to her.

"I know," Aurora agreed.

"Well, isn't this warm and fuzzy?" another female voice asked. Aurora looked to see Rouge coming out of the house. Before she said hi to Aurora, the bat's eye caught Knuckles. "Hey, there, Knuckles. Long time, no see."

Knuckles leaned in to Tails and asked through gritted teeth, "Why didn't you tell me she was gonna be here?"

"Because you wouldn't have wanted to come if we did," Tails whispered, making Knuckles rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Oh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were happy to see me," Rouge accused playfully, acting like she was offended.

Knuckles just folded his arms and grunted.

Rouge shrugged, not letting it get to her, little did she know when she looked away, Aurora could see Knuckles's cheeks were red, but she kept that to herself for his sake.

"But I am glad to see you, hon," Rouge said to Aurora. "Omega and I were very worried about you."

"Well, I'm fine now. Wait a minute," she replied, standing up at the mention of the robot, "How is Omega?"

"He's as good as new," she announced happily. "Don't believe me? Just ask him."

Aurora looked at the patio to see Omega stepping outside, looking just like he did the first time she met him, his chest looking much better.

"Greetings, Aurora," Omega greeted.

"Omega!" Aurora cried happily, coming up to hug the robot. "I'm so glad to see you're all better now. I was so scared the last time I saw you."

Omega was still for a moment, very shocked and confused that a human was...hugging him.

"What's the matter?" Aurora asked, noticing his stillness.

"Nothing," he answered. "It is just that I did not expect a greeting like that from you."

"Oh, sorry, Omega," she apologized, stepping away from him bashfully, "I guess I got carried away."

"No apology necessary," he reassured, "I am glad to see you are fully functional as well."

"His language is definitely functional, that's for sure," Rouge remarked, acting a little annoyed by his robotic behavior.

"Perhaps we should've asked the mechanics to fix that, too," Shadow put in, stepping out of the house."

"Hi, Shadow," Aurora waved, happy to see the black-and-red hedgehog. "Great to see you."

"Same here," he nodded, though no one looked convince since he was still wearing his usual serious expression.

"Shadow, come on, at least give her a smile if you really mean it," Rouge teased.

"He probably is smiling, for all we know," Sonic joked, making everyone laugh.

"All right, all right, let's be nice, please," Aurora asked gently, defending dark furred hedgehog.

"Now there's someone who knows not to get under people's skin," Shadow commented, with a grin and a hand on his hip, grateful for her defense.

"Aurora, take a look at your new house," Amy asked, gently tugging Aurora's arm with Cream tugging the other as they led her to the house.

"We painted it with the same colors you like," Cream added.

"Purple, pink, and red, all beautiful colors," Aurora acknowledged with satisfaction "You did a great job."

"We're happy you like it," Cream smiled.

"Wait 'til you see what the inside looks like," Tails pronounced, leading everyone inside the house. Aurora stopped and stared in amazement, seeing the red sofa and blue chairs free of the sheets; a black coffee table in front of the couch; a lovely wooden chocolate brown desk at a corner, looking shiny in the light; the walls clean of all dirt and such along with the floors that were covered in fuzzy green carpet.

"Oh, my gosh!" she exclaimed. "Even the inside is completely different from before. I mean, it's as colorful as the walls outside."

"This furniture is old," Sonic mentioned, touching one of the blue chairs that matched his fur, "but it's still okay."

"And it's still fresh, thanks to the sheets," Tails added.

Aurora looked to see a fireplace and saw a beautiful glass vase with golden flowers in it. "Now this wasn't here," she pointed out, "and I definitely would've remembered something this gorgeous."

"My mother and I got you that," Cream explained, "We thought you'd like it."

"I love it," she corrected happily. "Please be sure to tell your mom I said thank you."

"Will do," she smiled.

"Sonic got you the flowers," Amy put in.

"They're the same ones from that meadow we were at last time," Sonic concluded.

"I thought they looked familiar," Aurora said, sniffing at the flowers, "Thank you, Sonic."

"No problem," he replied.

"And I see Tails has got the electricity runnin'," Aurora observed, noticing the turned on lights in the room.

"Uh-huh," the genius fox responded with a bashful grin and a hand behind his head. "And look what we've got in the kitchen."

Tails showed her to the large kitchen to see that not only was it cleaned and polished of all filth, but she saw the large dining table covered with a plate of chili dogs, spaghetti casserole, bread rolls, chicken salad, and macaroni.

"Wow... Just...wow," Aurora breathed.

"Thought we'd give you a house-warming party," Sonic told her.

"Guys, you didn't have to do this, "Aurora said, though she was very grateful for their thoughtfulness.

"We wanted to," Sonic replied, "You deserve it."

Aurora didn't know what to say. She was so touched to have friends who'd do these kind of things for her. With a big grin, she announced, "Well, then, let's get this party started."

Everyone sat down, with Aurora at one end of the table with Sonic and Tails sitting next to her on each side; Amy sitting next to Sonic, originally; Cream next to Tails; Rouge sitting next to a reluctant Knuckles and Shadow sitting at the other end of the table across from Aurora who noticed that there were three empty chairs next to him.

"Say, what's with the extra seats?" Aurora queried.

"Oh, well, thought we'd save those for three more guests," Sonic answered, "but it looks like they're a no-show."

"Three who?" Aurora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Team Chaotix," Tails said. Before Aurora could ask who they were, they all heard a knocking at the door.

"Guess who?" asked a sort of deep rough voice.

"You'll know in a minute," Tails told her.

Sonic got up from his seat to answer the door and Aurora looked through the kitchen doorway to the living room as Sonic opened the door to reveal a tall green crocodile wearing headphones and a golden chain around his neck, with a purple chameleon wearing gauntlets and a bumble bee wearing goggles. She never expected to see those kind of creatures, but then she told herself to expect the unexpected, especially on Mobius.

"Heya, Sonic," the croc greeted, whose voice Aurora recognized when he'd knocked on the door, "Great to see ya."  
"Hiya, Vector," Sonic waved. "Glad you guys could make it."

"Same here," the crocodile nodded, "I hope we're not late."

"You kinda are," Sonic answered, scratching his head, "but you got here right before we could eat."

"I told you we should've left 15 minutes ago," the purple chameleon nagged with a kind of deep Japanese voice that surprised Aurora.

"Does that mean Aurora's here already?" the bee asked with a young voice.

"Yep. Hey, Aurora, come here," Sonic called. Aurora stepped up from her seat to meet the three new Mobians. "Aurora, this is Team Chaotix. They're a group of detectives and they're friends of ours."

"Nice to meetcha," the croc said, shaking Aurora's hand. "I'm Vector, the leader." Then the bumble bee flew up to Aurora's face.

"Hi, I'm Charmy," he greeted, quickly shaking her hand along with her arm, "I'm a detective in training."

"Easy on her arm, Charmy, or it'll pop off her shoulder," Vector told the young bee, gently pulling him back from her.

The purple chameleon stepped in front of her and bent his waist in a bow. "My name is Espio, a ninja detective," he greeted, shaking her other hand since it felt a little sore from Charmy's handshake. "It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Aurora."

"Pleased to meet you, too," she nodded, flattered.

"Whoa, nice place," Charmy commented, flying around in the living room, then looked to see the vase. "I like this."

"Ah, don't even think about it, Charmy," Vector warned, "You break it, you buy it."

"I was just lookin'," Charmy insisted.

"That's always his excuse before he breaks something," Espio whispered to Aurora.

"Forgive him, he's young," Vector said to her.

"That's all right," she reassured. "Well, why don't we sit down and eat and get to know each other?"

"Don't mind if we do," Vector replied as he and his team walked to the three empty chairs reserved for them.

However, Espio stopped, with a bag in his hand. "By the way, here," he told Aurora, giving her the bag. "We didn't think it'd be polite to come empty-handed."

"So we brought you a little somethin'," Vector concluded.

"Oh, let's see what it is." Aurora pulled out two pictures in frames and saw that one of them was a picture of the green hills of Knothole.

"We knew that you'd met Sonic and the others in Knothole and that you'd like to run in the green fields over there," Espio explained.

"This is lovely," she remarked sincerely, then looked at the other picture. "An island? Wait a minute..." She squinted her eyes to see that the island was surrounded by white clouds.

"Heh, you recognize it?" Vector smirked.

"I sure do, this is Angel Island."

"We heard from Sonic that you like the island so we thought we'd get you a picture of it, too," Vector said.

"Thank you, I like these a lot," Aurora nodded gratefully.

"You're welcome, glad you like them," Vector grinned, then turned to Knuckles. "We just hope you're not too mad about us taking a picture of your island, Knuckles."

"No, not at all, she's more than trustworthy to have a picture of it," Knuckles replied, which made Aurora smile as she carefully put the picture away in the bag and on the coffee table.

"Say, Knuckles, by any chance, wouldn't I be trustworthy to have a picture of you and me together?" Rouge queried with a finger on his cheek.

"Sure, as long as you're inches away from me, respecting my personal space," Knuckles answered, gently removing her finger from his face, making them all laugh.

* * *

As they all ate, accept for Omega who stood at the doorway since he was a robot and couldn't eat, Aurora told them all she used a Chaos Emerald at Sunset Canyon with her aura.

"So you really used a Chaos Emerald?" Charmy asked with amazement sparkling in his eyes.

"That's right."

"Wow!" the bee exclaimed.

"It is very fascinating," Espio agreed leaning his chin on the back of his hand.

"It's also mysterious," Vector added. "That's why we're here."

Aurora tilted her head in confusion.

"You see, since they're detectives, we thought they could help us figure out how you can use a Chaos Emerald while the rest of us find them all," Sonic explained.

"Yep, you've got nothing to fear when Team Chaotix is on the case," Vector proclaimed.

"Depending on whose case they're on," Tails muttered, making Aurora grin.

"Well, I do appreciate you volunteering to help," Aurora nodded gratefully.

"Hey, any friend of Sonic's is a friend of ours," Vector replied, which made her smile.

* * *

After the welcoming feast, Aurora stepped outside to bid farewell to everyone. "You guys did an amazing job of this place," she told them all, "Everything is just wonderful. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Aurora," Sonic smiled.

"We're very happy you like it," Tails added.

"We hope you'll be comfortable here," Amy said.

"I'm sure I will," Aurora assured.

"We hope we'll see you again soon," Cream said sadly.

Aurora grinned sympathetically and bent down to her. "So do I, Cream." She hugged her and Cheese, then turned to Tails.

"Remember, if you need anything, just call," Tails requested.

"I will," she promised, hugging the fox, then turned to Amy whose eyes were cast down.

"It's too bad you can't come back," she confided. "I was hoping you could stay with me again and we'd have more girl talks."

"Well, we can still have girl talks on the communicator," Aurora suggested.

"Good idea," Amy commented, hugging her.

"Think you'll be okay here," Sonic asked her.

"I will, don't worry," she reassured confidently.

"Now you sound like me," Sonic remarked with a grin.

"Well, isn't that terrifying?" Shadow asked sarcastically.

"Now, last I remember, you once said, 'don't worry' yourself, handsome," Rouge pointed out.

"I didn't say it the way he did," Shadow stated.

"Whatever you say," Rouge shrugged playfully.

"Just call me when you guys get the chance," Aurora asked.

"Sure thing," Sonic replied, giving her a thumbs-up and a wink. Aurora smiled and hugged the first Mobian she'd met that had helped her in more ways than one. "And you'll see us again before you know it," he reassured softly, rubbing her back. She nodded hopefully. She looked at her first Mobian friends from Knothole, knowing she was going to really miss the fun she's had with them all.

She forced herself to turn to Knuckles next. "Well, looks like we're getting a real good-bye this time," she remarked, putting on a grin.

"Mm-hmm," he nodded, "This time, at least we know where you'll be." He opened his arms and she leaned in for another hug. "Take care of yourself over here, okay?" he whispered. She nodded obediently.

"Trying to make me jealous over there?" Rouge teased.

"Not really," Knuckles answered bluntly, making Aurora laugh a little.

"Don't we get a hug, too?" Charmy asked with open arms.

"Of course you do," she smiled, hugging the little bee. "Since you didn't break anything and you did bring me a nice gift and you've volunteered to help."

"Hey, no sweat," Vector said, giving her a hug. Aurora turned to Espio and frankly, even though she hadn't known him very long, she wasn't sure if he'd hug on the first meeting.

"I don't suppose you'd care for a hug, Espio?" she questioned, opening her arms to him in an offering manner.

"Normally, a handshake would do..." Espio started, but looked to see Vector behind her as he motioned the chameleon to be polite and hug her, "but this one wouldn't hurt." Aurora smiled and hugged him.

"Don't forget us," Rouge said with Omega and Shadow behind her. Aurora bent down and hugged the bat. "And I'll be sure to call you, too, hon," she added. "I'd like to have girl talks with you myself."

"Lookin' forward to it," she nodded sincerely, then turned to Omega and hugged him. The robot was hesitate at first, but then slowly returned the hug, gently squeezing her a little so he wouldn't crush her.

"Is that how it is done?" he asked.

"Yes, it is," she smiled. It was nice to see he was learning to how to hug a friend even though he is a robot. He sure amazed her, that was certain.

"Let's see you giver her a hug, Shadow," Sonic said, wanting to see his dead serious rival actually hug someone.

"I'm not goin' away just yet," Shadow replied, "I have a few things I need to discuss with her." He looked to Rouge and Omega. "You two can go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Rouge nodded, then waved to the human girl. "Bye, Aurora. Hope to see you soon."

"Likewise. See you, Omega."

"Farewell," Omega said with a wave of his giant metal hand as he followed Rouge into the sky using the small rockets in his back to help him fly with her.

"Guess we'd better get goin', too." Tails motioned to the girls, Knuckles and Sonic.

"Bye, Aurora," Amy waved.

"Take care," Tails added.

"See you, kid," Knuckles said.

"You, too, and good luck," Aurora called.

"Thanks, and we'll be sure to visit you soon, like I said," Sonic vowed as they all climbed on the X-Tornado.

"Thank you, bye," she called as the jet took off.

"Well, we'd better get goin' to," Vector said to his team. "See ya, Aurora. We'll be sure to let you know if we find out anything about your aura."

"Thanks, guys. Take care." Aurora watched them all go...missing every single one of her Mobian friends already... Then she looked to see Shadow was standing next to her. "Oh, was there something you wanted to discuss, Shadow?"

"Yes, there is," he answered, "Now you're going to be staying here until we find all of the Chaos Emeralds. Although, no one comes over here, you still need to be careful. For instance, do not wander into the woods by yourself. When you come outside, stay in the yard."

Aurora nodded as he continued. "And if you're in trouble or if you see anything out of the ordinary, contact us. But you won't be alone 24/7. I'll come see you every night to check on you and I'll keep teaching you self-defense moves."

"I'll be sure to practice during the day," she promised.

"Good," Shadow nodded approvingly. Aurora smiled, then looked at the ground. "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just...a little too soon to be alone again. I mean, I'll be okay by myself, but..." She was very sad to say good-bye to her good friends...she really didn't want to be on her own again with no one to talk to, no one to laugh with, or have fun with... She shook her head of all that and said, "Never mind."

Shadow nodded. "I understand..." He opened his arms, inviting her to a hug.

Aurora smiled and without hesitation, she embraced the black-and-red hedgehog who'd sort of been like a father-figure to her.

"We'll find all of the Chaos Emeralds," he promised firmly, rubbing her back in reassurance just like Sonic did, "You'll see, then everything will be fine."

"Thank you," she whispered, then stood up and forced a smile. "See you."

Shadow nodded with a smile. "Stay out of trouble," he told her.

"I'll do what I can," she winked.

Shadow sighed deeply yet he grinned, "Now you sound like Sonic again."

"No, if it was Sonic, he'd say, 'Where's the fun in that?'" she corrected.

"Good point." With a slight wave, he said, "See you," then took off leaving a gust of wind behind him.

Aurora smiled as she pulled her hair back, watching the hedgehog go, hoping tomorrow would come soon for him to visit her. "Take care, my friends."

* * *

As Shadow ran back to G.U.N., he thought about Aurora being in the mountains by herself and knew from the look in her eyes before he left that she'd feel lonely without Sonic and the others around.

He didn't like for her to feel sad, but as long as he'd go to see her every day, she'd feel a bit better and more importantly, he knew she'd be safer being in seclusion in the mountains where Eggman couldn't find her. At least he hoped.

_I already let her down once, I'm not going to do it again._

Shadow was going to make sure to keep the mad doctor away from Aurora this time, one way or another. Finally, he made it to the headquarters where Rouge and Omega were waiting for him.

"Well, there you are," Rouge stated, "What'd you have to talk to Aurora about?"

"I told her to stay close to the house and not to wander in the woods and to call us if something happens."

"As long as she follows the rules, she will," he affirmed. "And as long as we find all of the Chaos Emeralds. Come on, we've got a lot to do."

As Rouge and Omega went inside to discuss where to search, Shadow looked back to the north where Aurora was.

_No one will find her there... She's as good as safe in Forgotten Peak..._

Then with a nod, Shadow went back inside to begin the search to find and lock away all of the Chaos Emeralds forever.

* * *

**Epilogue**

Far, far away, in a land with wavy green grass as far as the eye can see, a boy with white hair and green eyes panted as he ran away from the small village, hoping to get away. He carried a bag in his hand, keeping it close to him. He couldn't let his pursuers get their hands on the object inside. He knew they were too crazy and reckless to use it.

He ran and ran and ran until he saw a mountain that was many, many miles away from his view point, but he could make out the tall gray peaks on the horizon. He smiled, thinking that maybe he could hide his parcel there. He looked back to see if anyone was following, which to his gratitude, he was alone...for now.

They would catch up to him sooner or later, but it didn't matter if he was caught as long as they never got ahold of the powerful item in the bag. Gripping his hands, he ran straight for the mountains, determined to protect the world from their insanity forever. He wished he could find someone to depend on...someone to trust...but he knew that this was something he alone had to do. He couldn't involve anyone else into this madness he himself was already up to his neck in. He just hoped this would solve things for good...

* * *

(Surprise! I'm gonna write a sequel to this story! Anyway, I hope this was a good story for all of you. I'd like to thank those who stood by me to read this story and commented my work. Thank you! See ya on the next story called Mysterious White Wolf. Until then, God bless.)


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